We managed to keep all three points at home against Unirea Slobozia in a tense yet entertaining match filled with rare levels of drama, moving seven points clear of our direct rival.

We managed to keep all three points at home against Unirea Slobozia in a tense yet entertaining match filled with rare levels of drama, moving seven points clear of our direct rival.

Five valid goals were scored in this crucial relegation battle clash, with three of them ending up in the visitors’ net. In a play-out encounter enjoyable even for neutral spectators, Raul Palmeș made his 100th official appearance for FK Csíkszereda and received a commemorative plaque from club president Szondy Zoltán. Another memorable moment was the first SuperLiga start of 17-year-old local talent Brugger Dániel, who made an immediate impact: in the 9th minute he played a key role in a well-worked move finished by Eppel from close range after Anderson’s assist – the striker’s 11th goal of the season.

We stayed on the front foot, creating further chances, but Popa denied both Anderson and Eppel. Against the run of play, the visitors equalized in the 19th minute through Torres. Our team responded well, and in the 32nd minute we regained the lead after a corner: Végh’s header was saved, but Gustavo scored on the rebound via the crossbar (2–1). We had more chances before halftime and went into the break with the advantage.

In the second half, Slobozia increased the pressure, forcing several key saves from Pap, including one on the goal line. In the 60th minute, Eppel hit the crossbar, and shortly after, in the 62nd minute, Ponde equalized with a long-range effort (2–2).

Our response came quickly: in the 71st minute, substitute Szalay Szabolcs finished from close range after a brilliant delivery from Anderson to restore our lead (3–2). The closing moments were dramatic: Dulcea scored in the 90th minute, but the goal was disallowed for offside after a VAR review, while in stoppage time Dahan struck the crossbar. After 12 minutes of added time, we held on and celebrated an important victory.

After the match, head coach Ilyés Róbert said: “Congratulations to the players, they were the main protagonists and gave everything. At moments like this, when it’s all over, everything looks nice and good, but it was terrible to live through those final minutes. I hope we won’t have to play many matches like this in the near future. I think we produced our best first half of the season, we set a high tempo, and you could see how much the players wanted this victory. We were very positive, we kept the ball on the ground, played football, pushed forward, created a lot of chances, and we even received great applause for it – I could hear behind me how much the crowd enjoyed the match. The fact that we didn’t score more goals in the first half came back to hurt us a bit in the second half, when the opponent changed their system, played with two strikers and put more pressure on us,” the coach explained, adding regarding the disallowed goal that at first he himself did not understand what VAR was checking, but after reviewing the footage, he believes the correct decision was made and the final result is fair.

In the next round, FK Csíkszereda will travel to Sibiu to face Hermannstadt on Friday at 17:30 in another decisive match.

SuperLiga, play-out, Round 5
FK Csíkszereda – Unirea Slobozia 3–2 (2–1)
Municipal Stadium, Miercurea Ciuc, approx. 1800 spectators

Referees: Roman George Cătălin, Ghiciulescu Raul Constantin, Duța George Bogdan
VAR: Cojocaru Adrian Viorel, AVAR: Dumitrache Bogdan
Fourth official: Gaman George Cătălin

Scorers: Eppel (9’), Gustavo (32’), Szalay (71’) / Espinoza (19’), Ponde (62’)

Yellow cards: Hegedűs (51’), Gustavo (63’), Pap (90+6’), Palmeș (90+11’) / Dorobanțu (18’), Antoche (90+9’)

FK Csíkszereda: Pap Eduard Adrian – Pászka Lóránd, Hegedűs János Krisztián, Palmeș Raul Ioan, Trif Răzvan Alin – Végh Bence (Csürös Attila 75’), Veres Szilárd – Anderson Ceará (Loeper Wilhelm 75’), Brügger Dániel (Bödő Efraim 83’), Dos Santos Cabral Gustavo (Szalay Szabolcs 67’) – Eppel Márton (Dolny Jozef 83’)
Head coach: Ilyés Róbert

Unirea Slobozia: Popa Dimitrie Robert – Dorobanțu Andrei Cristian, Dinu Ionuț Alexandru, Safronov Oleksandr (Lungu Teodor 46’), Dragu Andrei Fernando – Albu Alexandru Cristian, Antoche Marius Paul – Pop Vlad Marian (Ponde Cristian Ioan 46’), Bărbuț Cristi Marian (Dulcea Patrick Adrian 75’), Yanakov Denis (Dahan Guy 46’) – Espinosa Torres Renato (Said Ahmed Said 84’)
Head coach: Nicolescu Claudiu

Attila Rédai
Photo: Zoltán Pál