The eternal derby of Macedonian football between the biggest names on the green field, Pelister and Vardar, brought an offensive and interesting match for the audience that filled the "Petar Miloševski" stadium in Bitola, in which the victory was recorded by the "red and black" from Skopje.
Vardar entered this match as the favorite and had the initiative, creating three clear chances in the first half. The first chance came through Matić in the ninth minute, when he headed in a corner kick. Just two minutes later, Babunski tried to open the scoring after a pass from Mato, while in the 22nd minute, Todorovski had a chance for Vardar.
Then Vardar's initiative waned and two chances were recorded for Pelister, the first in the 26th minute through Belić who shot from over 20 meters, and the second in stoppage time of the first half, when Bulatović forced Taleski's intervention from a free kick.
The second half brought "fire on the pitch" and heightened emotions among both the players and the audience. In the 53rd minute, Mato converted a wonderful assist from the outside of the penalty area into a goal, punishing the Bitola defense that failed to block as before.
Pelister continued to try long-range shots, and in the 59th minute Spirovski shot accurately from 25 meters, Taleski boxed high, and Petar Petkovski entered the penalty area and scored to equalize. Referee Grujovski, at the request of Vardar, requested assistance from the VAR room to confirm that there was no offside, after which the goal was confirmed.
The best, but unrealized, chance for Vardar came from Omeragic in the 68th minute, after another wonderful pass, but the ball bounced in front of his foot and he failed to tame it and sent it into Jovcevski's net. However, in the 80th minute, Danev, although he was still staggering from outside the penalty area, managed to deceive the Pelister defense and be brought down in the penalty area, after which a penalty was awarded to Vardar. Zakaric was a sure scorer in the 83rd minute.
The finish was equally fierce, with Vardar getting another chance through Danev from the left, who ran to the left and fired an imprecise shot towards Jovcevski's goal, while on the opposite side Mirko Ivanovski failed to stop a rebound after a header from Ristevski. The captain of Bitola was also in the foreground when, after the breakthrough from the right, he requested a penalty for a handball by a Vardar defender, as well as in the finish for a return ball to Taleski, but in both cases referee Grujovski only showed two yellow cards, due to the reactions of Spirovski and Ivanovski.
Vardar remains the only undefeated team after the 12th round and with 30 points returns to the leading position, while Pelister can regret a missed point, which would have been important in the fight for survival, because now it has only 8 points and is in the danger zone, in 10th place in the table.
After just four days, Vardar plays Tikvesh in Skopje, and Pelister welcomes AP Brera in Bitola.
