In the first round of Ekstraklasa, Lechia Gdansk made the most of the first minutes to get a win over Jagiellonia. The team from Bialystok dominated largely until they lost one of the players due to a red card. Arka Gdynia escaped a defeat in Krakow thanks to a great defense of penalty by Steinbors as well as poor finishing by the hosts.
Jagiellonia Bialystok – Lechia Gdansk
Lechia Gdansk secured an important win in the first round of Ekstraklasa by beating away Jagiellonia Bialystok 0:1. The team from Tricity did well in the first ten minutes in a game where the home team had several chances for a goal.
After Mak headed wide on the eight minute, Gdansk team went ahead after a good cross by Haraslin to Paixao. The Portuguese forward, now without the company of his brother Marco, went ahead of defender Mitrovic and scored the first goal of the game easily. Since the 10th minute, Lechia had an advantage.
Jagiellonia, second in the last season of Ekstraklasa, seek a better result in the first half. Kuciak performed well in a goal, saving good efforts by Novikovas in the 12th minute and Romanczuk later in this part of the game.
Second half
In the second half, Jagiellonia saw Irish forward Sheridan shot wide in the 54th minute. Two minutes later, Sheridan, again stronger than Nalepa, shot for Kuciak to save in another effort to change the result.
After that, there was a reversal of fortune for Jagiellonia. First, Novikovas shot right into the right post of Lechia’s goal in the 64th minute. Four minutes later, things became even more difficult for Bialystok’s team when defender Guilherme got a red card after a foul over Peszko.
With Jagiellonia playing in ten, more action came only in the added time. This included a rough foul of Peszko over Novikovas. The referee had no other choice than to expel Polish international from the game. After that, Jagiellonia had one more great chance on goal. Runje shot over the bar after a great move by Novikovas and substitute Machaj four minutes into added time.
Wisla Krakow – Arka Gdynia
In Krakow, Arka Gdynia was lucky to get away with a null draw against Wisla. The home team wasn’t able to take advantage of the good opportunities they had all over the game. Their Spanish midfielder Jesus Imaz failed to score three times in the first half.
Wisla Krakow could have gone ahead in the 6th minute but Pavel Steinbors saved Jesus Imaz’s shot from out of the box. In the 22nd minute, a mistake made by Arka’s keeper could have offered the advantage to the home team but Imaz shot over the bar.
At the stroke of a half-time, Imaz received a ball from Patrik Malecki, but he failed again. The shot went just centimeters from the left post of Steinbors’ goal.
Second half
In the second half, Arka Gdynia managed to shot twice over the bar around the 60th minute. Both Bohdanov and Janota made good efforts, but it was Wisla Krakow that was very near the 1:0 right after it.
Wisla Krakow had its best chance for a goal when Ondrasek was brought down by Helstrup inside the box in the 62nd minute. This gave Jagiellonia a penalty. Boguski, however, allowed Steinbors to save and he shot over the bar on the rebound.
In the 69th minute, Steinbors was crucial for Arka again saving a shot from substitute Martin Kostal to the bar. By this, he secured an important point for Gdynia’s team in the first round of Ekstraklasa.
Upcoming Matches
In the second round of Ekstraklasa, both teams from Tricity will play home. On Friday, Lechia Gdansk hosts Slask Wroclaw and Jagiellonia Bialystok, that receives Portuguese team Rio Ave for Europa League on Thursday, comes to face Arka Gdynia on Sunday.
