On the difficult and muddy pitch at the stadium in Chair, Shkendija Aracinovo and Tikvesh played a hard-fought match in which both teams scored once and earned a point each.
As early as the 6th minute, Marko Simonovski took advantage of the first real opportunity in front of the opposition goal – following Elezi’s precise cross from the right, he coolly found the back of the net to give his team an early lead.
Just a minute later, at the other end, Laval created space for himself and fired dangerously from around 18 metres, but goalkeeper Stolevski produced a brilliant save for Shkendija.
In the 12th minute, Wisdom Okere’s masterful solo run earned him a position in the penalty area, but his shot went wide. Just three minutes later, the tireless Laval threatened the defence again, but this time his effort went over Shkendija’s goal.
Marko Simonovski came close to scoring his second goal in the 22nd minute, when he broke into the penalty area and tried to lob the visiting goalkeeper, who was nevertheless equal to the task. Just a minute later, Dashmir Elezi unleashed a genuine rocket from 20 metres, but the ball went just a few centimetres wide of the post.
Right at the start of the second half, Nfanli Sila sent a cross into the heart of the penalty area, where Laval was waiting for it, but the alert Stolevski intervened in time.
In the 50th minute, Dashmir Elezi fired dangerously first-time from an angle in the area, but Tikvesh’s goalkeeper, with a desperate effort, turned the ball behind for a corner. Just three minutes later, Sharkoski took the corner, and the persistent Elezi was again denied by a assured intervention from the visiting goalkeeper.
In the 75th minute, Shkendija were punished after a mistake in defence – Vildan Kerim, attempting to clear the situation in his own penalty area, unfortunately set up Lusianinho, who made clever use of it to level the score at 1:1!
Tikvesh forward Nfanli Sila had another good opportunity in stoppage time when he took a free-kick from around 17 metres, but the ball went just wide of Stolevski’s goal.
In the end, the sharing of the points seemed like the most realistic outcome of this hard-fought encounter in the difficult conditions at the stadium in Chair.
In the next, 13th round, Shkendija Aracinovo will visit Arsimi in Gostivar, while Tikvesh will face Skopje in front of their home fans in Kavadarci.
