Politehnica Timisoara was defeated at home, 0-1, by CSC Ghiroda and Giarmata Vii in the game of the seventh round of the play-off League 3, Series 9. As a result of this result, the white-violets remain in first place, two points ahead of the next placed.

Without Prună, slightly injured, Poli didn’t start the game too badly. In the 25th minute, Radu Ciurel sent a free kick just wide. Starting on the right wing, Militaru unfortunately went off injured after just over half an hour of play. The first notable chance for the visitors came in the 38th minute, when Stoi shot from outside the box and the ball cleared the crossbar before going out. Ghiroda had several good chances at the end of the half and finally materialized in the second minute of extra time. Also entering after the 30th minute, in place of the injured Ciobanu, Velcotă pivoted on the back line and served in front of goal to Popovici, who completed a simple formality.

In the second half Poli had several chances. D. Ciurel (51) sent a right-footed shot on Bura-Koț’s direction then Istratie (53) sent over the goal from a free kick from 17 meters. The same Polist striker had two more good chances to score before being substituted. One of them in the 60th minute – a shot blocked in the box. The end of the game was very fragmented, with many interruptions for medical reasons among the visiting players, but even so both teams still had chances to score.

The score remained unchanged, Poli remains leader with 47 points, while Lupeniul, who drew at home with Progresul Pecica (3-3) and who is also the next opponent in the 8th round, closed to within two points. The duel with Minerul will be next Saturday, from 6 pm, at the “Electrica” stadium.

Politehnica Timișoara: Mosoarcă – Miclăuș (77, Amariei), D. Roșu, Vlaicu, R. Ciurel – Pureca, I. L. Rotariu – Militaru (36, D. Ciurel), Popa, Marincu (captain; 46, Boariu) – Istratie (63, Avramescu). On the bench: Enășescu – Huminic, Tătaru, Nagy, Lazăr. Coach: Cristian Gălan.

CSC Ghiroda: M. Bura-Koț – Mancaș (captain), Brăilean, Stupu, Ad. Ilie – Precup, Stoi – Popovici (63, Trip), Buia (55, Jichici), Cionvică (63, Y. Popescu) – Ciobanu (32, Velcotă). On the bench: Novac – Datcu, Imbroane, Vaccari, Munteanu. Coach: Călin Cojocaru.

“A pretty poor game from us, I think it was the worst game in this championship and I’m not exaggerating. And yet we created about three or four clear chances to score, we didn’t score, the opposing team knew what they came here for and, I think, they achieved their objective. Going forward, we are preparing the next game, we will make a clear analysis on Monday.

Nothing worked. As soon as you fail to score, you kick the ball out yourself or you are not paying attention to a fairly easy phase and you concede a goal because you think you are anticipating an action but you are actually fooled, then nothing has worked.

…I can feel a relaxation in them and the fact that we made it to the play-offs made them float a little bit, I think that’s also because of the age that we have in the squad and it’s going to be hard to do anything about that. Because they should realize what they are fighting for and what they fought so hard for. We’re not thinking about who’s on the pitch, it’s all our players, it’s all our players, the same players who have had the run this season, a very good run, the same players who won last season, who now I don’t know how long they have strung together a very nice run of wins and games without defeat, it’s still us, we can certainly do a lot more than we did today, but we have to change something in terms of attitude towards the game of football. Today we have not shown at all to have the right attitude to the game of football. We’ve shown that it’s not true (n.r. fluctuations related to players’ age), we’ve shown that we can be capable, we can do things the right way, 11 or 12 games in a row. I don’t think we can put forward the argument that: we’re young, that’s why we have fluctuations in form, we’ve proved that even so young we can have a very good series of games and we don’t put forward that argument anymore! What is certain is that we played a very poor game today!

Every day we do the same things we have been doing since the beginning of the season. We try to work every day really well. I think this game was also a wake-up call for them that they need to do more, otherwise the play-offs will just be a consolation for a good season. With a newly formed team,” said Cristian Gălan, head coach of Politehnicii Timisoara.