Arka Gdynia won against Zaglebie Lubin and kept the LOTTO Ekstraklasa for at least one more season in Gdynia.
Yellow & Blues were desperate
Before Friday’s match Zaglebie were already sure they would finish this season in first place in the relegation group. In the last 5 matches they have earned 13 points. Yellow & Blues on the other hand got 4 points in the last 5 matches and their situation in Ekstraklasa was still not clear.
First half
Zaglebie began the match actively attacking but Arka’s defense played well on Friday evening. Players from Gdynia were successfully trying aggressive pressing which had an effect in 19th minute. After Tadeusz Socha shot, Konrad Forenc (Zaglebie’s goalkeeper) managed to bounce the ball but Rafal Siemaszko was right there and scored for Arka his 11th goal this season. Ten minutes later, Mateusz Szwoch performed an individual action on the right wing. After a nice cross into Zaglebie’s penalty area Dariusz Formella defeated Forenc and Arka were leading 2:0. A few minutes later the result should have been 3:0 but Dariusz Formella terribly missed in a clear-cut chance. By the end of the first half Zaglebie were close to score, but Warcholak blocked Janoszka’s shot. The referee blew his whistle with the result 2:0 on the score board.
Second half
The second half didn’t begin well for Yellow & Blues. After a corner for Zaglebie, Michal Marcjanik with an unfortunate header defeated Steinbors and scored his 4th own goal this season. After this goal there was some nervousness in Arka’s actions. Fortunately for Arka players, Lubin seemed to already think about the after season break. Yellow & Blues kept on consequently destroying Zaglebie’s attacks and creating own offensive actions. This resulted in 75th minute when Marcin Warcholak with a long shot defeated Forenc and Arka were winning 3:1. In the last 15 minutes Arka were controlling the match and the result did not change.
An interesting season for Arka Gdynia
After a very interesting season Arka finished the season in 5th place of the relegation group with 24 points and kept the LOTTO Ekstraklasa for Gdynia. Moreover Yellow & Blues, thanks to winning the Polish Cup, will represent Poland in the UEFA Europa League qualifications. Which means this was in fact one of their best seasons in the club history. The season is now finished but there is a lot of work for club officials in the coming weeks in order to make Arka even stronger for another difficult season.
