Politehnica Timisoara lost the duel of the last two teams, against Metaloglobus Bucharest, 1-2 (0-1), in the 14th round of League 2. Our team’s only goal was scored by Adrian Zaluschi, from a penalty kick.

The guests opened the scoring in the 11th minute through Huiban, who shot from inside the box. The second half started with an important scoring chance for Fatjon Celani, the striker making his debut in the red-and-white jersey broke easily into the corner and sent a dangerous shot towards goal, but the ball was not reached by Benzar at the second bar.

In the 74th minute Germinio saved a ball intended for Zukanovic behind him. Referee Florin Mazilu judged that our defender hit with his arm and gave a penalty. The penalty kick was taken by the same Huiban. Just two minutes later Zaluschi took over in the opponent’s box and was kicked high by Gheorghe. Again a penalty, from which Adrian Zaluschi made it 1-2 and gave hope for at least a point. Unfortunately nothing else of note happened in the last minutes and Poli remain in last place with only eight points, four behind the next placed teams.

Next up is a weekend without games in League 2 (international break). In two weeks Politehnica will play on the field of CSM Slatina.

Also in today’s game the Greek defensive player – Angelos Karatasios – made his debut for the white-violet team.

Polytechnic: Murariu – A. Mada (71, Olariu), Bocsan, Germinio, Taub – Ignea, Pana (74, Zaluschi) – D. Radu, Milea (46, Celani), Benzar (65, Oanea) – P. Popescu (74, Karatasios). Coach: Octavian Benga.

Metaloglobus: Gavrilaș (46, Nedelcovici) – Goge (78, Pătlăgică), Chatziterzoglou, Caramalău (captain), Sava (63, Neacșu) – Liș (78, A. Sîrbu), Al. Gheorghe, Chiorean, Sin (68, Zakir) – Huiban, Zukanovic. Coach: Eusebiu Tudor.

“Another defeat, on two mistakes. On the first goal, from an own goal, which we rehearsed for two days, so we predicted that Sava, their left defender, was throwing a lot, and we even rehearsed it in practice. I can’t understand why at that moment the players didn’t react or made mistakes, because game after game they make childish mistakes. Goal 2, a penalty, to be honest, probably was. There’s nothing for the elbow there and we gave them a penalty. So two goals gifted, as in the vast majority of games. Even if it’s not Christmas we still give gifts. But I have to state that I’m also unhappy with the team’s play offensively, because we asked them for something else. We’ve been working on the mental side this week, a lot, because they’ve been very mentally down, because they’ve been scolded by the fans. Two on the hand, the goal you concede in the 92nd minute takes a toll on you. I seem to have failed some of them, although I think I’m generally good at that mental part and manage to motivate the players more than I should. The conclusion is that some players can only do so much, both mentally and technically, because you can’t score when you miss simple passes without adversity, when you’re not under pressure, so we also have technical problems, which I knew. A result that disappoints us (…)”, said Octavian Benga, head coach of Politehnica.
“For us all games are under pressure. There was no special match here, we are in a not good area for our team. We haven’t solved anything with this win, we still have two more games from which we have to get six points, because our goal is to escape from relegation. To avoid it, you have to take points. Today was a six-point game. Poli Timisoara, although in last place, are not a bad team at all, from my point of view defensively I was afraid of this game. Because it’s a team that defends as a group, that you can see they work in training, but the important thing is that we managed to win, we imposed our game and that made the difference, I think it’s an important win. After all, we were also lanterns, we respect our opponents, any team can be the red lantern, the important thing is the points we have to take. We respect Timisoara, it’s a big city, a team that in my opinion should be in the first league (…)”, Eusebiu Tudor, Metaloglobus coach.