Lechia Gdansk hosted Pogon Szczecin on Sunday 28th May at 18:00.
Lechia went into round 36 in 4th place in the championship group of the Lotto Ekstraklasa with league leaders Legia Warszawa just 2 points ahead.
This was the final home match of the season and 20,067 fans turned out to support their team on a scorching hot night in Gdansk.
The Match
The match kicked off and it was Pogon with an early attack on the Lechia goal, fortunately it was no trouble for Lechia’s defense. Lechia’s first chance came after 5 minutes when Lukas Haraslin made a great run into the box, played a one two with Milos Krasic, then crossed the ball to Rafal Wolski who couldn’t keep his shot down and put it over the bar. In the 8th minute, Adam Gyurcso, had a good chance for Pogon but his header was wide of Kuciak’s goal. Two errors by Joao Nunes let Adam Gyurcso through on goal in the 16th minute but luckily there wasn’t much in his shot and it was easily save by Dusan Kuciak. Lechia won a corner in the 19th minute, it was taken by Rafal Wolski and found the head of in form striker Marco Paixao, he didn’t waste his chance and put It in the back of the net, Goal! 1:0.
The Lechia fans were in fine form, the noise level was the loudest since derby day! It was more than just another game, this was the last home game of the season and the championship was in touching distance. Both the fans and the players knew nothing less than a win was needed.
There was no change at the top of the table as the Warsaw and Jagiellonia match also ended 0:0. Lechia sit in 4th place on 38 points, with Jagiellonia and Lech also on 38 points. Warsaw are still top on 40 points. With only 2 games left till the end of the season it’s still all to play for.
In the 33rd minute after some great combination passing which formed a Lechia attack, Rafal Wolski crossed the ball into the box and Marco Paixao was there to guide it into the goal, 2:0! Paixao is Scoring for fun at the moment with 17 for the season now.
Lechia seemed to take their foot of the gas after the 2nd goal and sat back defending until the whistle blew for half time.
Half Time 2:0.
Second Half
The second half started and it was end to end football but no real chances created by either side until a rough challenge from Steven Vitoria on Marchin Listkowski resulted in a free kick in a dangerous area, fortunately Pogon wasted the free kick by putting it wide of the Lechia goal. In the 59th minute, after a cross from Marco Paixao, Milos Krasic found himself in a perfect position in front of goal but failed to get a touch on the ball.
Pogon, with nothing to really play for in terms of the league, didn’t give up easily and continued to attack the Lechia goal. In the 69th minute Lechia were awarded a penalty after a deliberate hand ball in the area, Marco Paixao stepped up and made it look easy to score his hat trick and 18th of the season to put Lechia 3:0 up.
In the 76th minute Slawomir Peszko made way for Piotr Wisniewski (this was to by Piotr’s final match for Lechia as he retires at the end of the season) Just a few minutes later Milos Krasic took a perfect corner and Piotr Wisniewski found the back of the net for a dream farewell from the veteran striker 4:0.
Full Time 4:0
Fantastic result, great atmosphere and the perfect goodbye to two Lechia greats, Piotr Wisniewski and Mateusz Bak.
The Lechia fans showed football passion in the purest form, well done and thank you for your entertainment this season.
Once again there is no change at the top of the league as all four teams challenging for the league title won their respective matches. League leaders are still Warszawa now on 43 points with Jagiellonia Bialystok, Lech Poznan and Lechia Gdansk following all with 41 points. It’s all going down to the last day of the season now.
Man of the match
My man of the match goes to Piotr Wisniewski
Next Match
We are now down to the final match of season:
Legia Warszawa Vs Lechia- Sunday 4th June at 18:00
This will be a crucial decider for the championship, if Lechia can win and Bialystok and Poznan both drop points then Lechia will be crowned champions.
Post Match
Coach Nowak made the following comments in his post match press conference:
‘It was for us a very important meeting for many reasons. We wanted to prove to ourselves that we are counting on the rate of teams competing for the highest goals in the league. Besides, we wanted to go say goodbye to Piotr Wisniewski and Mateusz Bak. We managed all very well. We could not have wished for a better end to the season in Gdansk’
‘As you can see, everything is still open. We always profess the philosophy of enjoying the game. Now we need to properly recover and prepare a plan for a match against Legia’