Botev (Plovdiv) achieved a valuable 2:0 victory as a guest of Arda Kardzhali in a match from the 31st round of the First League in the second four, which determines the participants in the play-off for European club tournaments, BTA reports. The “Canaries” achieved success with a goal by Todor Nedelev in the first half and an own goal by Martin Paskalev after the break. With the three points, the team, led by Lachezar Baltanov, collected 43 and remains eighth, but is now only a point behind seventh-placed Arda and four behind fifth-placed Cherno More.
The first half offered few chances, with the best chance for the hosts coming in the 17th minute, when Atanas Kabov passed to Patrick Luan, but he missed from a clear position. In the 35th minute, however, Botev opened the scoring – Nedelev scored a beautiful goal from a free kick, sending the ball irretrievably into Anatoly Gospodinov's goal.
Before the break, the guests created several more dangers, and Arda missed an excellent opportunity through Luan and a subsequent shot by Svetoslav Kovachev.
At the beginning of the second half, Botev doubled their lead. After a breakthrough and cross by Konstantinos Baloyannis, Martin Paskalev, while trying to clear the ball, sent it into his own goal for 0:2.
The hosts tried to get back into the match, but in the 72nd minute, goalkeeper Daniel Naumov saved a sure goal after a shot by reserve Wilson Samake. In added time, the Plovdiv team missed making their victory even more convincing, after not taking advantage of an excellent counterattack.