Lech Poznań - Korona Kielce 0:1

Bjelica’s players were occupying the top spot in the league rank before the Friday match. For the first time since the ESA-37 system was introduced, the team from Poznan began the playoffs from the position of the leader. However, that seemed to have no impact on the game itself. The opening minutes of the match were slow and both teams struggled to build offensive actions, while Lech couldn’t dominate their rival. It wasn’t until the 32^nd minute that the fans saw the first dangerous scoring chance.

That’s when the hosts could have taken the lead. Lech was awarded a free kick nearby the sideline, which Jevtic converted into a cross. Vujadinovic entered the box in attempt to head the ball into the back of the net, but he was fouled, which resulted in a penalty kick for Lech. Jevtic was given the chance to place the ball in the back of the net, but Korona’s goalkeeper intervened spectacularly and saved his team from conceding a goal.

The wasted chance cost Lecha a very high price. Korona responded 3 minutes later with an offensive action that resulted in a goal – a winner as it later turned out. Kapidzic’s attempt from 25 meters hit the post and the ball rolled into the back of the net whilst Lech’s goalkeeper watched it in shock. The hosts had a chance to equalize before halftime, but Tralka’s header from the 42nd minute was successfully stopped by Korona’s keeper.

At halftime, Bjelica changed the formation and sent in Khoblenko as a substitute for Jozwiak. However, despite having an extra striker on the pitch, it wasn’t Lech that dominated the game. Kapidzic had another scoring chance when he dribbled past three defenders, but his finish was easily stopped by Putnocky. Lech tried remaining in possession of the ball for as long as they could, but they had problems converting it into chances and rarely attempted to shoot at the goal from outside the box.

An hour into the match, Bjelica made another substitution and this time he decided to play with 3 defenders only. Khoblenko had a couple of good scoring opportunities, among them a shot on an open net from about 3 meters, but the Ukrainian striker sent the ball flying above the crossbar. It was the best chance for Lech to equalize and fight for 3 points.

The hosts were playing slow and predictable football but they did have a couple of decent goal-scoring opportunities. For instance, in the 78^th minute, Tralka came close to equalizing, but Korona’s keeper intervened impressively. A moment later, Klups attempted to surprise the goalkeeper with a shot from outside the box, but it was easy to stop. Korona responded with a dangerous counterattack that could have ended with a second goal for the guests, but Soriano failed to tap the ball into the back of the net. Vujadinovic had a great opportunity to score an equalizer for Lech in the closing minutes of the match, but his attempt was just slightly off target and in the end it was Korona that collected 3 points.

LECH POZNAŃ - KORONA KIELCE 0:1 (0:1)

Goals: Kapidzić (35)

Yellow cards: Gumny, Jevtić, Klupś - Diaw, Kosakiewicz, Alomerović, Dejmek

Lech: Matus Putnocky - Robert Gumny (66. Tymoteusz Klupś), Emir Dilaver, Nikola Vujadinović, Volodymyr Kostevych (76. Piotr Tomasik) - Łukasz Trałka, Maciej Gajos, Radosław Majewski - Darko Jevtić, Christian Gytkjaer, Kamil Jóźwiak (46. Oleksiy Khoblenko)

Korona: Zlatan Alomerović - Bartosz Rymaniak, Radek Dejmek, Pape Diaw, Ken Kallaste (61. Michael Gardawski) - Mateusz Możdżeń, Adnan Kovacević (66. Adnan Kecskes) - Nabil Aankour, Łukasz Kosakiewicz, Sanel Kapidzić (76. Elia Soriano) - Zlatan Janjić

Attendance: 20 054