On Wednesday night Lechia traveled to Bytów for their first Polish Cup match of the 2017/18 season. Lechia went there without leading goal scorer, Marco Paixao.
Last season Arka Gdynia won the cup and that is how they managed to play European football this season. It was also a great opportunity for Lechia to repeat Arka’s success and guarantee European football at the Energa next season. Krzysztof Bąk, who is a former Lechia player, captained Drutex-Bytovia Bytów.
Unfortunately the season went from bad to worse for Lechia Gdansk. They were beaten 1:0 and knocked out of the tournament at this early stage.
The game
The first half was pretty uneventful with the best chance for Lechia coming from Peszko. This was in the 34th minute, but he failed to make much of it. It was the 62nd minute when Drutex-Bytovia Bytów took the lead through a Sebastian Kamiński goal. After the goal, coach Nowak made a few changes. However Lechia players continued to just cross the ball while Drutex-Bytovia Bytów defenders dealt with the danger with ease. Lechia just couldn’t convert their chances and failed to show the extra creativity needed to penetrate the Drutex-Bytovia Bytów defence. In stoppage time Steven Vitoria saw his shot hit the post which was Lechia’s last chance of the match.
‘We can only stand as we showed on the pitch. We did not play well and we have to admit this situation is a big challenge for us.’ said Coach Nowak after the match.
Fan Reaction
Lechia fans, who traveled to support their team, made their frustrations know after the match. When the players went to the stand to thank the fans they were faced with some tough questions and security had to get involved to stop the fans entering the pitch.
The Lechia Gdansk team bus was attacked as a mark of frustration by the fans. The tires were slashed so the team had to rely on a replacement coach to come and rescue them.
My Thoughts
Lechia were league title contenders last season and just a matter of a few months later are now finding themselves in an unfamiliar territory. The recent run of results is difficult to take for the fans and players alike. I believe though, that the passion and the desire to succeed still exists in this squad.
Many people are calling for coach Nowak to resign but after some big changes in the coaching staff over the summer I think we need to keep some stability at the club for now. I know there are a lot of changes being made within the club around coaching which includes eradicating some bad habits, hopefully we will see this paying off in the near future.
I truly believe the team is felling as bad as the fans after this latest defeat but the last thing we need now if for the team to lose anymore confidence.
Marco Paixao will be back for the next match and some good news is the potential loan signing (return) of Simeon Slavkov from Sporting Lisbon.
Next Match
Pogon Szczecin Vs Lechia Gdansk Monday 14th August 18:00
