This was one of two Sunday hits in the PKO Ekstraklasa. In Poznań, Lech Poznań faced Pogoń Szczecin, who had jointly collected 10 points in the previous rounds. The winner of this match could have led in the table for at least 2.5 hours, equaling points with Cracovia.
Lech Poznań's best match of the season. Pogoń Szczecin didn't have much to say
It certainly cannot be said that the rate has paralyzed football players both teams, because from the beginning at Bułgarska we watched a very good spectacle. Already in the second minute the hosts had a hundred percent chance, but Mikael Ishak, who was one-on-one with the goalkeeper, was stopped by Valentin Cojocaru. Three minutes later the Romanian was again in the lead, defending a flat shot from a dozen or so meters by Afonso Sousa.
With ten minutes of play gone, the two leaders of both sides – Mikael Ishak and Kamil Grosicki – saw a yellow card for a mass confrontation. “Grosik” woke up a bit after this situation and a moment later he passed a great sixteen-pointer to Kacper Łukasiak, but the latter hit too lightly to beat Bartosz Mrozek.
In the first half, Lech Poznań was better. In the 18th minute, Dino Hotić made a slight mistake from a distance, and after three minutes, after a very good move by Michał Gurgul, Mikael Ishak skidded in the Pogoń penalty area, while Joao Pereira's accurate shot was perfectly blocked by Leo Borges.
Lech continued to attack. Afonso was blocked in front of the opponent's goal. Sousaafter a while, Valentin Cojocaru saved the visitors again, getting ahead of Antoni Kozubal in the penalty area. Pogoń responded after half an hour of play with a great action and a situation by Kamil Grosicki, whose flat shot was very well saved by Bartosz Mrozek's legs. At the end of the first half, Antoni Kozubal had another situation, losing a duel with Valentin Cojocaru.
The key to the outcome of the match was what happened in the 45th minute, when Afonso Sousa brilliantly controlled a long ball from Joel Pereira and was about to enter the penalty area on the left wing, going one-on-one with Cojocar, but was fouled by Benedikt Zech. Referee Piotr Lasyk initially showed the Austrian a yellow card, but after video review he sent him off the pitch and Pogoń had to play the entire second half with a man down.
Lech Poznań, in very good shape, did not intend to delay taking advantage of their one-man advantage in the second half. In the 52nd minute, there was a huge mess in Pogoń's penalty area, when Afonso Sousa's shot was saved by Valentin Cojocaru, who was lobbed by Mikael Ishak a moment later, but was lucky to be saved by one of the defenders on the goal line. A minute later, Mikael Ishak scored a wonderful shot from the air after a cross by Joel Pereira, but it quickly turned out that he was clearly offside.
In the 54th minute, nothing could save Pogoń Szczecin. A one-on-one play between Afonso Sousa and Daniel Hakans completely confused Linus Wahlqvist, and the Portuguese Sousa surprised Valentin Cojocaru with a powerful shot, opening the scoring.
Lech showed no intention of stopping. In the following minutes, Antonio Milić failed to capitalize on a good opportunity after a free kick with his head, and shortly afterwards, Afonso Sousa's offside goal was disallowed.
In the 77th minute, “Kolejorz” managed to finish off their opponent. In a counterattack by the hosts, Mikael Ishak passed the ball into the free space to Ali Gholizadeh and although he was too slow to go one-on-one with Valentin Cojocaru, he still managed to deceive one of the defenders in front of the penalty area and scored his first goal in the top league with a precise, flat shot.
Nothing more happened in this match until the very last action of the match, when, after a misunderstanding in the visitors' defense, Bryan Fiabema missed the shot into the empty net.
Lech Poznań confidently defeated Pogoń Szczecin 2:0, thanks to which they equalled Cracovia in the table with 13 points and, thanks to a better goal difference, took the lead in the league for at least a few hours. PKO Ekstraklasa.