The team of Spartak (Varna) continues with its strong performance in the First League, after the players of Alexander Tomas inflicted the first loss on Botev (Plovdiv) from the beginning of the season and won by the minimum 1:0 when visiting the “Canaries”. The match was played on the basis of the “yellow-black“ in the Plovdiv district “Komatevo“ due to the poor condition of the grass cover at the “Hristo Botev” stadium, and the only goal in the match was the work of Akhmed Akhmedov, who was accurate in the 69th minute with his sixth goal so far in the campaign.
At the end of the first half, a goal by Alexa Marash from the Botev team was canceled after the intervention of the VAR system due to an ambush by Siriki Diabate, and minutes before the goal of the “falcons” it was the central defender of Plovdiv who hit the crossbar. The hosts ended the match with one less person on the field due to a second yellow and red card for Nikola Iliev, who was sent off in the fourth minute of added time of the match.
With the success, Spartak collected an asset of 13 points and temporarily climbed to the second place in the standings, breaking 3 points ahead of the “canaries”, who continue to share third place with the teams of Beroe and the Black Sea.
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The match began with a minute's silence in memory of former Botev (Plovdiv) football player Georgi Avramov, who died suddenly on Monday at the age of 40.
In the opening minutes of the match, the guests from Spartak (Varna) were a little more active, but without threatening Hans Christian Bernat. After a quarter of an hour of play, the hosts reached their first danger in front of the opponent's goal. Christian Nwachukwu broke from the left past Mateo Juric and almost from the off-line crossed to Alexa Marash, whose header, however, went wide of the goal.
In the 22nd minute, Botev's head coach Dusan Kerkez had to make a forced substitution. Samuel Akere suffered a shoulder injury and was replaced by Nikola Iliev.
In the 35th minute, the visitors from Varna organized a good attack from the right, where Ahmed Akhmedov laid the ball for Ivey Nathaniel, who shot without delay from the edge of the penalty area, but inaccurately.
Eight minutes later “falcons“ scored the first accurate shot of the match, made by Akhmed Akhmedov. In the next attack, Spartak's scorer again received from the left in the penalty area, overcame Siriki Diabate and found himself alone against Hans Christian Bernat, but the “canaries“ quickly shortened the distance and stopped Akhmedov.
In the second minute of added time of the first part “the yellow and black“ scored a goal, which was canceled due to an ambush. Konstantinos Balogiannis crossed from a direct free kick to Siriki Diabate, who headed it to Alexa Marash and from a few meters Botev's central striker converted into the empty net. After a nearly 4-minute review of the situation with the help of the VAR system, the goal was disallowed due to Diabate's irregular position. So the break came with a zero tie.
Ten minutes after the start of the second half, Dusan Kerkez's players were close to opening the score again. Baloyianis found Nikola Iliev, who, however, headed wide of the target.
Spartak responded in the 62nd minute with a strong inaccurate shot from distance by former Botev player Antonio Vutov.
Three minutes later, luck covered the “falcons”. Siriky Diabate rose in the penalty area from a corner kick and headed in, but the ball bounced off Martin Velichkov's crossbar.
In the 69th minute, Alexander Tomas' players took the lead. Antonio Vutov received on the left flank and sent a precise cross to Akhmed Akhmedov, who overtook Diabate and from a difficult position managed to shoot with his left foot unsalvageable into the upper right corner for 0:1.
In the 80th minute, a dangerous shot by Yvey Nathaniel went wide of Hans Christian Bernat's goal.
Towards the end of the match, Dusan Kerkez's men pressed their opponents in search of an equalizer to avoid defeat, but the visitors were defensively focused enough to maintain their lead. The home team ended the match with one less man on the pitch due to Nikola Iliev's second yellow card and red card respectively in the fourth minute of added time of the match.