There might have been more in this match for FK Csíkszereda, but in the end the favorites prevailed: with a narrow win, Craiova took all three points.
There might have been more in this match for FK Csíkszereda, but in the end the favorites prevailed: with a narrow win, Craiova took all three points.
Compared to previous matches, Róbert Ilyés sent his men out in a changed system, with four defenders and five midfielders against the league leaders in Sunday’s home game. The more experienced Pap started in goal, while our latest aviable signing, Lóránd Pászka, was given a place in the starting eleven. For the visitors, as expected, not the same starters from Thursday’s match in Nagyszombat took the field. Perhaps because of this, the beginning went in our favor, as the son of the legendary Silviu Lung, the younger Silviu Lung, handed us an unexpected gift in the 4th minute, letting in a poorly judged back pass. Unfortunately, we could only celebrate for seven minutes: like a good host, we returned the favor by giving Nsimba a chance – the French striker beat Palmeș one-on-one and, just as he scored coming off the bench on Thursday, this time too he had no trouble putting the ball past Pap: 1–1. For the rest of the first half the visitors created little in attack, FK dominated possession and had the chances: Szalay, Pászka, and Eppel all found themselves in almost unmissable positions – but the opportunities went begging.
Early in the second half, Crețu showed that Craiova had not come to Csíkszereda to settle for a draw, but Pap produced a fine save. At the other end, Szalay’s and Pászka’s efforts were denied by Lung, who kept his net untouched. Around the 60th minute, Rădoi strengthened his side with two double substitutions, bringing on Baiaram, Al Hamlawi, Teles, and Cicăldău then five minutes later Mora, while Ilyés responded with Babati, Dolny, and Bakos. In the 69th minute, this paid off: our defense hesitated in front of goal, and the ball pulled back from the byline by Cicăldău was smashed into the net by the same Nsimba: 1–2. In the remaining twenty minutes the blue-and-whites managed the game smartly, but Dolny still had a chance to equalize when he flicked Gál-Andrezly’s right-wing cross goalwards, only for Lung to safely claim it.
At the post-match press conference, Róbert Ilyés explained the events on the pitch by pointing to his side’s still too apparent lack of experience, which allowed the more seasoned opponents to score more goals from fewer chances. “This defeat is frustrating, because I think we played quite well, I heard the crowd enjoyed it too, but unfortunately we couldn’t reward them with at least a point. What is more frustrating is that from the opponent’s first chance we conceded again, from an individual mistake. Even that wouldn’t necessarily have been a problem, but against a team like Craiova, if you create chances and don’t score, it’s hard to come back into the game. It was clear that we played against an experienced side. No matter how you analyze things beforehand, maybe we are still not experienced enough, and this really shows in the key moments of matches,” said the head coach.
In Round 7, FK Csíkszereda will play away at Botoșani, on Saturday at 18:45.
Superliga, regular season, Round 6
FK Csíkszereda–Universitatea Craiova 1–2 (1–1)
Miercurea Ciuc, Municipal Stadium, 2100 spectators
Referees: Baban Vlad (Iași), Gheorghe Sebastian Eugen (Suceava), Artene Ovidiu (Vaslui), Busi Cătălin (Râmnicu Vâlcea). Fourth official: Dumitrescu Eduard (Pitești)
Goalscorers: Lung (1st – own goal), respectively Nsimba (11th, 69th)
Yellow cards: Szalay Szabolcs (1st), Szabó (40th), Bödő (43rd), Pászka (90+5th); respectively Mogoș (40th), Screciu (81st)
Line-ups:
FK Csíkszereda: Pap Eduard – Gál-Andrezly Peter, Hegedűs János, Palmeș Raul, Ferenczi János – Pászka Lóránd, Bödő Edraim (Bakos Ervin 66’), Anderson Ceara (Babati Benjámin 60’), Szabó Bálint, Szalay Szabolcs – Eppel Márton (Dolny Jozef 66’). Head coach: Róbert Ilyés
Craiova: Lung Silviu – Mogoș Vasile, Screciu Ionuț Vladimir, Stevanovic Nikola – Rădulescu Mihnea Gabriel, Ștefan Florin Bogdan (Baiaram Ștefan 65’), Mekvabishvili Anzor, Crețu Alexandru (Cicăldău Alexandru 60’), Matei David (Teles Samuel 60’) – Houri Lyes Hafid (Carlos Mora 65’), Steven Nsimba (Assad Al Hamlawi 90+3’). Head coach: Mirel Rădoi
Attila Rédai
Photo: Zoltán Pál