Lech Poznan - FK Ufa 1:1

Lech Poznan drew with FK Ufa 1:1 in the first sparing match held during the winter grouping. Dawid Kownacki scored the penalty for the Polish team.

For the past 6 days Lech has been training in Ajia Napa, a Cyprian town. A day before the return to Poland, the team from Poznan played a friendly match which ended the first part of the winter preparations. The grouping held at Cyprus focused on the physical condition of the players and most of the training sessions were devoted to endurance and strength.

The coaching staff decided to test multiple players on different, unusual positions.  Dariusz Formella was moved the left side of the defense line, while Szymon Pawlowski was placed as the forward. Sisi, Lech's recent transfer, got to play for Lech for the first time and his role concentrated on the midfield. Moreover, the youngsters - Kamil Jozwiak and Tomasz Dejewski - debuted in the senior team.

Urban's players dominated since the opening minutes of the game and created many goal-scoring opportunities, but luck was missing. In the 13th minute Dudka sent a nice pass to Gajos, but the latter failed to control the ball. Shortly afterwards Kownacki received a similar ball, but this time the goalkeeper was forced to intervene when the young forward sent a strong shot in the direction of the goal. However, a few minutes the Russian keeper was left helpless. Lech pushed the Russian into deep defense and won a corner kick that was converted into a good cross. Referee spotted a foul in the penalty area and awarded Lech with a penalty kick that Kownacki easily turned into a goal.

Having scored, the team from Poznan returned to its own half of the pitch, while the Russian team built offensive actions and created goal-scoring opportunities. It was either luck and the Russians' lack of precision, or the good cooperation of Lech's defense line that saved the Polish team from losing a goal.

In the second half Lech regained control over the play, but found it difficult to surprise FK Ufa that was concentrated on defending. The Polish players were in possession of the ball most of the time, but had little chances to shoot. Nonetheless, Pawlowski seemed to cause problems to the Russians defenders and was being fouled again and again. After one of such offensive actions Lech came close to scoring the second goal. Linetty sent a cross from the left flank, the ball found Ceesay, but it was Dejewski that finished the action with a header that stopped on the post. The young player tried again, but this time the ball flew above the crossbar.

The Russian team rarely visited Lech's penalty area, but when they finally did, the score changed. Lech found its opponent most problematic during corner and free kicks. During one of those Lech's penalty area turned chaotic and Haris Handzic, the former player of the team from Poznan, took advantage of the defenders' confusion and scored an equalizer.

Lech had opportunities to score another goal, but the lack of efficiency was problematic. Kadar and Jevtic tried shooting from outside the penalty area, but in both cases Ufa's goalkeeper intervened successfully. Kotorowski had to remain focused too, since in the 90th minute Handzic recovered the ball very close to the Polish goal and if it wasn't for the goalkeeper, the Russian team would have won the match. In the injury time Formella was fouled outside the Russian penalty area, but Pawlowski's free kick was inaccurate and thus the match ended in a draw.

LECH POZNAŃ - FK UFA 1:1 (1:0)

Goals: Dawid Kownacki (26'), Haris Handzić (68')

Lech Poznań: Krzysztof Kotorowski - Tomasz Kędziora (46. Kebba Ceesay), Maciej Wilusz (46. Tomasz Dejewski), Paulus Arajuuri (46. Marcin Kamiński, Dariusz Formella - Łukasz Trałka (46. Karol Linetty), Dariusz Dudka (46. Abdul Aziz Tetteh) - Gergo Lovrencsics (46.Tamas Kadar), Maciej Gajos (46. Darko Jevtić), Kamil Jóźwiak (46. Sisi) - Dawid Kownacki (46. Szymon Pawłowski).

FK Ufa: David Yourchenko (46. Andrey Lunev) - Vyacheslav Krotov (46. Aleksandr Katsalapov), Aleksey Nikitin , Denis Tumasyan, Pavel Alikin (46. Nikolay Safronidi) - Marcinho (46. Aleksandr Sukhov) , Ivan Paurević (46. Vladimir Zubarev), Dmitri Stotskiy (46. Semon Fomin), Oleksandr Zinchenko (46. Igor Bezdenezhnykh) - Sly (46. Marvin Pourie), Diego (46. Haris Handzić).