Lechia Gdansk were away at Lech Poznan on Sunday 21st May at 15:30.
Top 4 before the game
Lechia went into round 35 in 4th place in the championship group of the Lotto Ekstraklasa with league leaders Legia Warszawa just 2 points ahead. Lechia could go top with a win, albeit until Warsaw played in Sunday’s evening match against Jagiellonia.
Lechia keeper Dusan Kuciak celebrated his 32nd birthday today, could he keep up his run of clean sheets to add to the celebrations.
The Match
20,139 fans waited with anticipation as the teams took to the pitch.
The match started full of pace and physical with challenges form both teams. Lech were looking sharp in attack, creating more chances but fortunately the Lechia defence and Kuciak were able to deal with the danger. Both teams were playing a defensive game and trying to break on the counter but there was no quality in attack for either team. To me it felt like neither team wanted to try anything too ambitious for fear of making a mistake that would lead to an opposition goal. After just 30 minutes the dependable, Jakub Wawrzyniak, went off injured and was replaced by Pawel Stolarski. This change seemed to actually help Lechia down the right side. The only real chances for lechia in the first half came from Marco Paixao and Rafal Wolski but both failed to make it count.
Half Time 0:0
In the second half both teams still played the defensive game which limited the clear chances but there were some good opportunities for both sides. Mihai Radut had a chance and Maciej Gajos had the best chance when he missed a seemingly open goal to put Lech in the lead. Rafal Wolski had a good shot blocked after a great individual run.
As the final whistle blew there were scuffles on the pitch between both teams which resulted in a few yellow cards.
Final Score 0:0
Overall Lechia were well organised but just couldn’t find that quality needed to take the advantage. This was the fifth consecutive match with a clean sheet for Lechia And the draw means Lechia have yet to lose a game in the championship group.
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.
Man of the match
My man of the match goes to Joao Nunes (Lechia).
Next Match
There are now only 2 matches left to the end of the season:
Lechia Gdansk Vs Pogon Szczecin – Sunday 28th May at 18:00 (last home game of the season)
Legia Warszawa Vs Lechia Gdansk- Sunday 4th June at 18:00
Post Match
Coach Nowak made the following comments in his post match press conference:
‘We played a smart match tactically. The boys helped each other on the pitch in the defensive game, which makes me very happy as their coach. Our rivals also successfully performed their foundation in the defence, hence the small number of so dicey situation’
‘Does this point bring us to the Polish championship or European cups? I have no magic bullet to foretell the future. Besides, as we have repeatedly emphasised, we focus on those things over which we have influence. We do not want discussion on the shape of the table to distract us’