The good news is that we have continued our unbeaten streak – we haven’t lost in eight matches. The less good news is that we dropped two points by missing a penalty in the final minute.
The good news is that we have continued our unbeaten streak – we haven’t lost in eight matches. The less good news is that we dropped two points by missing a penalty in the final minute.
Before the start of Friday’s late afternoon match, FK Csíkszereda and Székelyföld Football Academy president Zoltán Szondy presented a commemorative plaque to one of the club’s key players, Soufiane Jebari. Our midfielder played his 200th match in the red and black colours in the previous round in Sibiu – and in what a way! – securing victory over Hermannstadt with a memorable long-range strike.
The match did not start well for us. VAR detected a handball by Végh inside the box, and the awarded penalty was converted by Chică-Roșă in the 13th minute. Although Pap guessed the right corner and even touched the ball, he could not stop it. Petrolul remained dangerous – at Ricardinho’s long shot, Pap had to make a brilliant save. Then, in the 41st minute, Anderson’s action on the right wing ended with a cross that was poorly handled by the visitors’ goalkeeper, and Eppel was in the right place to poke the ball into the net: 1–1!
In the second half, FK dominated possession, trying to break down Neagoe’s well-organized defence. The introduction of Szabó Bálint brought something new to Ilyés Róbert’s team; the midfielder, who had missed several matches, tried to make his presence felt with some fine actions; after one of his left-side runs he fired just over the bar, while Pászka’s powerful strike also deserves mention — Krell, who came on at half-time, pulled off a brilliant save to tip it from under the crossbar.. We pushed harder for the winning goal, which the referee also acknowledged when he awarded a penalty in the last minute for a foul on Szalay. VAR reviewed the incident but found nothing wrong with Horațiu Feșnic’s decision. The victim himself took the penalty, but unfortunately hit the post, so the score remained level. FK Csíkszereda collected their 13th point in the Superliga, recording their seventh draw – only CFR have drawn as many times.
Beyond the missed penalty, the match will also be remembered for the primitive behaviour of the visiting supporters. Waving banners “defending the existence of Romania”, they mixed in carefully measured xenophobic and anti-Hungarian chants. The referee even stopped play once, with the next step being to send the teams to the dressing rooms. However, the “fans”, clearly well-prepared in this respect, gave no further cause during the game, waiting until the final whistle to resume their ridiculous chants.
At the post-match press conference, head coach Róbert Ilyés first tried to highlight the positive aspects: “Even these one-point matches are useful, as we are collecting points and we haven’t lost in eight games. That gave the team confidence, especially after we struggled a bit to get into the rhythm of the league at first. I think we are still on the right track, although today we entered the game a bit slowly, we weren’t fresh enough or aggressive enough. We conceded the goal almost from nothing – there was no communication between our defenders, and that resulted in the penalty. After a balanced first half, in the second we took the initiative and, like in handball, tried to move the ball around to find gaps, but Neagoe’s teams are always so well organized defensively, we couldn’t find solutions. We played few deep passes, and from the flanks we didn’t make the best decisions; despite several shots, only three were on target. Overall, I’m not angry with the team, not even with Szalay for missing the penalty, but with myself, because I shouldn’t have made that decision from outside the field – Pászka was the designated penalty taker. In my opinion, Szalay is the best penalty taker in the team; in training he scores ten out of ten. Still, I regret that today I made a wrong decision, which cost us two points,” said the coach.
There won’t be much time to reflect on this game, as on Tuesday we face the much-anticipated Székely derby in the Cup: we host Sepsi OSK from 16:00 in Miercurea Ciuc.
Superliga, regular season, Round 14
FK Csíkszereda – Petrolul Ploiești 1–1 (1–1)
Miercurea Ciuc, Municipal Stadium, about 1500 spectators
Referees: Feșnic Horațiu Mircea, Avram Valentin Gabriel, Cerei Alexandru. VAR: Cojocaru Adrian Viorel, AVAR: Slabu Stelian. Fourth official: Baban Vlad.
Scorers: Eppel (41) / Chică-Roșă (13 – penalty)
Yellow cards: Eppel (19) / Roché (89, 90+1), Dulca (90+4)
Red card: Roché (90+1)
FK Csíkszereda: Pap Eduard Adrian – Pászka Loránd, Čelić Maks Juraj, Hegedűs János Krisztián, Végh Bence (Szilágyi Szabolcs 84) – Veres Szilárd, Bödő Zoltán Efraim (Bakos Ervin 46), Anderson Ceará (Dusinszki Szabolcs 75), Jebari Soufiane (Szabó Bálint 60) – Eppel Márton (Szalay Szabolcs 75).
Head coach: Róbert Ilyés
Petrolul: Bălbărău Andrei Raul (Krell Stefan 46) – Roché Yohan Cédric Benjamin, Papp Paul, Ricardinho, Sălceanu Robert Ionuț – Mateiu Alexandru, Dongmo Danel Jordan, Jyräy Tommi Matti (Dulca Marco 90+4)– Radu Denis Răzvan (Tolea Ioan Cătălin 65), Chică-Roșă Adi Marian (Doumtsios Konstantinos 45), Doukansy Brahima (Onguéné Jérôme 65).
Head coach: Eugen Neagoe.
Text: Attila Rédai
Photo: Zoltán Pál