With a penalty goal from Assen Chandarov, Botev (Plovdiv) achieved a minimal 1:0 victory as host of Cherno More in a match from the third round of the First Football League. The midfielder of the "Canaries" scored from the penalty spot against his former team in the 24th minute, after being fouled in the penalty area by Mohamed Ashi, thus bringing the "yellow-blacks" their first success since the beginning of the new season.
Thus, Stanislav Genchev's students already have four points to their credit, while the "sailors" remain without success in their first three matches and have only one earned point.
In the seventh minute, Mohamed Ashi was sent off at speed from the left and tried to finish with a diagonal shot that fell straight into the arms of Daniel Naumov. In the counterattack, Chidera Okoh tried to intercept a cross from the right flank with a technical heel, but at the other goal, Kristian Tomov was also careful.
In the 19th minute, Mohamed Ashi was late for a duel with Asen Chandarov in the penalty area and kicked the Botev midfielder. The head referee Lyuboslav Lyubomirov let the game continue, but at the next stoppage he received a signal to review the situation with the help of the VAR system and awarded a penalty for the “Canaries“. The injured Chandarov was flawless from the penalty spot to give the “yellow-blacks“ a lead of 1:0.
By the end of the first half, Samuel Kalu and Lucas Araujo tried to surprise Tomov with long-range shots, which, however, were very far away from the goal, and once the keeper of the “Sailors“ intervened in an accurate execution by Okoh.
Five minutes after the resumption of play in the second half, Carlos Meoti finished off a quick attack by Botev well, but the goalkeeper of the guests from Varna showed his reflexes to reflect the Brazilian's false shot.
Two minutes later, Ilian Iliev's players were extremely close to an equalizer. Celso Sidni received on the left flank and tried a surprising shot towards the far corner, which caught Daniel Naumov unprepared. However, the ball passed the captain of the hosts and bounced off the post.
Four consecutive excellent performances followed by Kristian Tomov, who managed to parry two shots by Meoti and Kalou.
In the 68th minute, the young keeper of the Black Sea again did not allow himself to be overcome with another chance that opened up in front of Meoti after a pass from Kalou. Three minutes later, substitute Franklin Mascotte made a stunning pass over the goal, finding himself face to face with Tomov after a clever pass from Mauro Rodriguez.
In the 76th minute, the Brazilian striker of the “Canaries” again missed the target after a blunder by Ertan Tombak, who misplaced a pass in his own penalty area.
At the end of the match, Christian Tomov made another save after a shot by Nikola Iliev from about 20 meters.