Arka Gdynia got an early advantage in Friday’s Tricity derby. Steven Vitoria and Flavio Paixao inverted the result though and gave the second win in Tricity derby in one week. This was also the third win in Tricity derby this season. With this win, Lechia managed also to distance themselves from the relegation zone.
Both teams in relegation group
After the end of the main season of Lotto Ekstraklasa, the teams divide into two groups. The championship group consists of teams that have finished the main season within top 8 of the table. The relegation group are teams that remained under the half of the table. Teams from both groups play 7 matches which decide about the final form of the table. Both Arka Gdynia and Lechia Gdansk are now playing in the relegation group. Their task is clear – to stay away from the last two places which mean relegation to Nice 1st league.
Good opening for Arka
Arka Gdynia got the first goal of the match after the referee decided that Stolarski used his hand blocking the shot by Marcus da Silva. VAR confirmed the decision and the team from Gdynia got a penalty. Szwoch scored the set piece and gave an advantage to Arka in the ninth minute.
Gdansk’s team needed only a little more than 10 minutes to get the equalizer. After a corner, Joao Oliveira found Steven Vitoria in Arka’s box. Portuguese-Canadian defender did not miss the chance and made the 1-1 on the 22nd minute. The last minutes of the first half were full of action and started with another goal by Lechia after a quick counterattack on the 43rd minute. Slavchev served a great pass to Flavio Paixao who jumped higher than Marcjanik to score the 2-1.
Already in first half’s added time, Joao Oliveira almost scored the 3-1 for Lechia but his shot hit the post. Arka responded with a promising play by Zarandia which ended with a tough foul from Steven Vitoria that could have easily ended with a red card for the defender. After a brawl between players of both teams and after consulting VAR, the referee showed only yellow card to Vitoria and added yellows to Kuciak and Marcus da Silva.
Second half
In the second half, Lechia was again near the 3-1 after a superb shot by Flavio on the 57th minute. Keeper Steinbors avoided the goal with a no less spectacular save to a corner. From now on it was Arka who dominated the game with the amount of their chances. First came from Substitute Enrique Esqueda who made a great attempt from a distance in the 63rd minute. The ball however went just next to the post. Esqueda tried to mark his presence on the field also in the 67th minute. In this situation he did not reach the ball after a header by Jankowski. In the 78th minute Zbozien’s shot was saved by Lechia’s keeper after an extraordinary effort by Zarandia in Lechia’s box. The last chance for Arka belonged to Frederik Helstrup after a corner kick.
Despite this domination and cutting off the efforts of Lechia, Arka didn’t manage to change the score. Full stadium in Gdynia saw disappointing 1:2 on the board until the end of the match.
Situation in the table
After winning the third Tricity derby in this season, Gdansk’s team moved even more away from relegation zone with 33 points. Arka Gdynia has 40 points and is still second in the relegation zone.
After one week stop in the championship, Arka Gdynia plays in Nowy Sacz on Sunday Apr 22nd. On Monday, Apr 23rd, Lechia closes second day of relegation play-off by hosting Cracovia. In the meantime however, Arka is going play home against Korona Kielce in the second leg of Polish Cup semi-finals on Tuesday.
