FK Csíkszereda’s first victory in the Superliga is still to come, as on Saturday evening Ilyés Róbert’s men suffered a two-goal defeat away at Botoșani.
FK Csíkszereda’s first victory in the Superliga is still to come, as on Saturday evening Ilyés Róbert’s men suffered a two-goal defeat away at Botoșani.
In a mostly tight and hard-fought encounter of Matchday 7, FK Csíkszereda came up short, though with a bit of luck the outcome could have been different. The first major chance fell to the visitors: in the 6th minute Anderson’s move on the left ended with a shot from the edge of the box, which Anestis pushed away. At the other end, in the 18th minute, Pap had to deal with Ferreira’s powerful effort. In the 26th minute, the hosts’ pressure paid off when Mailat’s cross was flicked smartly into the far corner by Papa: 1–0.
Early in the second half, Csíkszereda enjoyed a good spell, with Anderson again going close, and in the 54th minute the Brazilian set up Dolný, who fired spectacularly into the top corner. However, the goal was ruled out after a lengthy VAR check for offside. Twenty minutes later, VAR again went against Csíkszereda, spotting a handball by Gál-Andrezly inside the box. Substitute Mitrov converted the penalty with a powerful shot under the bar: 2–0. In the 82nd minute, another substitute, Bodișteanu, sealed the home side’s win with a low strike from 16 metres into the bottom right corner: 3–0. Luckily, FK did not leave empty-handed in terms of goals: in the 85th minute Babati crossed, Anderson sent the ball back across goal, and fellow substitute Bakos tapped it in from close range: 3–1.
“We suffered another defeat. Although Botoșani started strongly, we managed to get into the game. But again, we made mistakes in defence. In the second half we started well, put their defence under pressure, and scored – but it was disallowed. I found the offside lines a bit strange, but that doesn’t matter anymore. Perhaps that was the psychological turning point of the match: had we equalised, we could have hoped to leave here with at least a point,” head coach Róbert Ilyés said at the post-match press conference.
FK’s next challenge comes on Wednesday with a trip to Voluntari in the Romanian Cup play-off round. In the league, the next fixture is at home against Oțelul Galați on Monday, September 1.
Superliga, regular season, Matchday 7
FC Botoșani–FK Csíkszereda 3–1 (1–0)
Botoșani, Municipal Stadium
Referees: Horațiu Mircea Feșnic (Cluj), Valentin Avram (Bucharest), Alexandru Cerei (Cluj). Fourth official: Vlad Baban (Iași)
Goals: Papa (26’), Mitrov (75’ – penalty), Bodișteanu (82’) / Bakos (85’)
Yellow cards: Dumiter (2’), Cîmpanu (33’), Papa (42’), Ilaș (52’), Țigănașu (90+1’) / Pászka (24’)
FC Botoșani: Ioannis Anestis – Narcis-Cosmin Ilaș, Charles Petro, Andrei-George Miron, Alexandru Țigănașu – Enriko Papa (Mihai Bordeianu 46’), Aldair Ferreira, Hervin Ongenda (Antonio-Mihai Dumitru 84’), George-Alexandru Cîmpanu (Ștefan Bodișteanu 65’), Árpád-Sebastian Mailat (Zoran Mitrov 65’) – Ioan-Andrei-Vasile Dumiter (Mykola Kovtaliuk 84’).
Head coach: Leo Grozavu
FK Csíkszereda: Eduard Pap – Peter Gál-Andrezly, János Hegedűs, Raul Palmeș, János Ferenczi (Benjámin Babati 79’) – Lóránd Pászka, Szabolcs Szilágyi, Anderson Ceara, Efraim Bödő (Ervin Bakos 79’), Bálint Szabó (Szabolcs Szalay 68’) – Jozef Dolný (Márton Eppel 79’).
Head coach: Róbert Ilyés
Rédai Attila
Photo: FC Botoșani