The Timisoara derby in the 11th round of League 2 ended with a victory for the “guests”. Politehnica lost the game against Ripensia, score 1-3 (1-1). The only goal of the white-violet team was scored by Daniel Benzar, in the 39th minute, from a penalty.

The Reds opened the scoring quickly. In the 3rd minute the first penalty kick of the match was awarded after Bocșan’s intervention on Ernest. Alexandru Piftor scored from the spot with a shot to Murariu’s right. The white-violet attacked more then and the equalizer also came after a foul in the box. This time awarded for Lalic’s tackle from behind on Bîrnoi, who was six yards out. Daniel Benzar slotted the penalty under the bar, slightly to the right of Rus, and also settled the first-half result.

In the second half Gerbi had a great chance in the 58th minute, after an underwhelming start to the half for our team. And a quarter of an hour later, from a ball that was kicked away somewhere 30 yards from his own goal, Valerii Macrițchii sent a curling shot past our goalkeeper. Towards the end, in an attempt to equalize, the Pensians surprised once more on the counter-attack through Densi Golda, who escaped alone with the goalkeeper, dribbled sideways and sent it to the long corner, the ball also hitting the bar before going into the net.

Final score 1-3 and our team remains with only ten points after 11 rounds. For Politehnica the next match is against Rapid in the Romanian Cup’s round of 16, scheduled for Thursday, 28 October, at 21.00 at the “Dan Paltinisanu” stadium. ,

POLITEHNICA: Murariu – Sofran, Bocșan, Scutaru (captain), Pamfile – Ignea, Lazăr (85, Hațegan) – Bîrnoi (68, Zaluschi), Benzar (68, Ursu), Andrei – Gerbi. On the bench: Păduraru – D. Radu, Costea, Prodan, Moțiu. Coach: Nicolae Croitoru.

Ripensia: I. Rus – Sturzu (88, R. Stoica), Țieranu, Lalic (88, Rogac), V. Macrițchii – Vidrăsan, Stoi (71, Sokovic), A. Macrițchii – Piftor, Ernest (57, Golda), Mitrov (88, Gladun). On the bench: Mosoarcă – M. Ion, Morariu, Pădurariu. Coach: Iulian Muntean.

“I think it’s a surprising defeat, and from the look of the game I’d say undeserved, because we created five goal-scoring situations in the first half, we finished 1-1, from a penalty awarded, I don’t know if it was easy or not… In the second half it was a more balanced game, the first half belonged entirely to us, they practically had three shots on goal and all three were goals. Unfortunately that’s football. I think in the first half we had a good attitude, we had goals, we had good possession, we created goal-scoring situations. We could have made the difference in the first half if we had made more of the situations we had. The second half, as I said, the game was much more balanced, the opponent defended better. However, in the second half we also had two situations: through Gerbi, from a set piece, and one through Ursu, a shot just wide of the goal. Two goals came out of nowhere. Shots from 20-odd yards, if not better, and this final phase. We knew it was going to be tough, we needed a positive result today to give us confidence, I think the first half showed a change. We just have to work“, Nicolae Croitoru, Politehnica Timisoara head coach.

Photo: Sebastian Tătaru