Politehnica Timisoara drew 1-1 (0-0) at home against CSC 1599 Selimbăr in the 13th round of League 2. The guests opened the scoring through Adrian Cîrstean, for Alin Ignea to equalize immediately after a penalty. In the extra time of the match our team should have benefited from another penalty kick, after an intervention of goalkeeper Gal on Mera.

The first part of the match was a balanced and quite solid for both sides. Politehnica had the first big chance of the game, through Doru Andrei, who shot the crossbar from distance in the 6th minute of the match. The guests replied with Boboc’s shot from the edge of the box, well saved by Păduraru (23rd minute). And four minutes later a corner kick found Scutaru in the box, but the header of our defender, who today marked his 100th championship match in our team’s shirt, was saved by Gal. Immediately Ignea’s volley, also after a corner, went just over the goal (30). The 44th minute also brought a bar for the guests, when Vodă’s shot, also from outside the box, hit the crossbar.

The start of the second half also brought the scoreboard unlocking. From the 48th minute it was 0-1, as Cîrstean took advantage of Sofran’s bad rejection and scored from inside the box. A minute later, however, Alin Ignea was fouled illegally in the other box by Biatoumoussoka and our midfielder equalised from the spot (51st minute) with a shot to the right of young Gal. After chances by Scutaru (55), Ursu (64), it was Mera’s turn to hit the bar after a header with two minutes left in regulation time. The goal could have come in the 90th minute, but the tangled phase in the visitors’ half, with many blocked restarts, ended with a drop shot from Lazăr. Extra time brought a controversial phase in the Șelimbăr box. Ignea’s “free” was met by Mera, who was hit in the head area by goalkeeper Gal in the middle of the box, but referee Marius Chiorean ruled a foul on the attack!

Politehnica remained in 15th place with 11 points. The next game at League 2 level will be at FC Brasov.

POLITEHNICA: Păduraru – Sofran, Mera (captain), Scutaru, Pamfile – D. Radu (57, Bîrnoi), Lazăr, Ignea, D. Andrei – Ursu, Gerbi (57, Zaluschi). On the bench: Murariu – Bocșan, Moțiu, S. Costea, Hațegan. Coach: Nicolae Croitoru.

CSC 1599 Șelimbăr: Gal – Vodă, Natea, Biatoumoussoka, Tătar (captain) – Antone (46, Al. Luca), Boboc (90, R. Crișan), Cărăruș, Yameogo (82, Roșu) – Ciocâlteu (82, Monea), Cîrstean (71, Goh). On the bench: Vâtcă – Curtean, T. Suciu, Vișa. Coach: Eugen Beza.

“I don’t know how the game looked, we needed points. We needed three points, they were very important for us! Unfortunately we didn’t manage to get them. Unfortunately, again mistakes that surprise us… The game was maybe better than in other matches, we also created some situations, we also had two goals, we hope that the game will grow, at least to gain some confidence and in the next two weeks to put things right that we still fail to show in the game… In their goal it’s a simple phase, a ball that could have been cleared without any problem. I think throughout the game we were careful not to give them space, not to create goal situations. I don’t even think they created very many situations. They did indeed have a crossbar with a shot from distance. We tried to threaten the goal. Even if we didn’t create many goal-scoring situations. But there were a few and here we have to insist, if we want to win we have to score“, said Nicolae Croitoru, Politehnica’s head coach.

There is a break in the championship coming up, the white-violet team will play a friendly game against CSC Peciu Nou next weekend.

Photo: Leczki Jozsi