Although they lost in Struga, Pelister played a solid game, earning a deserved draw with the first-place team from the First Macedonian Football League by the 85th minute.
In the last match of the 9th round, Bitola hosts Shkendija from Tetovo, who played in the Conference League during the week, where they lost to Rayo Vallecano 2:0. The match will be played at the "Petar Miloševski" stadium, starting at 6 p.m.
"Shkendija is a consistently stable team, one of the highest quality in recent years playing in our championship. They are now playing in Europe, they have a large roster of players and I believe they will be at a high level in our duel. However, our mathematics is different from theirs, so we have no intention of giving them the points," said coach Dimitar Kapinkovski.
These two teams have played 36 championship matches and met four times in the Cup. Tradition, especially in recent years, is on the side of Shkendija, while the last time they played was a draw in 2021. The last victory of the Bitola team dates back to December 16, 2020, and was won in Tetovo. At the stadium under Tumbekafe, Pelister's last victory dates back to 2013.
The team from Bitola has been playing with a depleted squad for several rounds due to injuries to various players, but the upcoming break in the championship will not pass passively.
"After this match, we will also play with Shkendija from Aracinovo in a duel for the Macedonian Cup, and on October 12, both anniversaries will be celebrated in Bitola: 80 years of FK Pelister and 40 years of the fan group "Čkembari". On that occasion, we will also play a friendly match with Dinamo from Bucharest", added coach Kapinkovski.
After the international break that begins after this round, the championship continues on October 19 with the matches of round 10.
