Although they played motivatedly and had chances, the Bitola team failed to convert their occasional dominance into a goal, and then when their tempo dropped, Struga punished them mercilessly.
Pelister started aggressively and tried to put pressure on the ball early with Mirko Ivanovski as the most forward player. This approach brought the first chance when the Bitola center forward was brought down in a split second while crossing the penalty area, but the referee Vlatko Ilioski did not have the courage to point to the penalty spot.
The free kick was taken by Srbijanac, but the ball hit the head of one of the players in the wall and did not pose any further danger after the home team's goal.
In the 13th minute, Kerim led an attack on Pelister from the left side, found Ivanovski, but the latter decided he could not attack and headed the ball back to his younger teammates who did not read his instinctive reaction, so the Struga TL defense cleared the danger.
Struga TL seemed very disorganized in their passing, so instead of real action we saw several solo attempts from their players. In the 22nd minute, Lassana Diako shot from 25 meters, and Jovchevski was in his place, but they failed to completely tame the ball that bounced minimally in front of him, enough for Compaoré to try to kick it, but only managed to injure the goalkeeper of Bitola. Referee Ilioski judged that he should not show a card for such a start in the penalty area where the goalkeeper is inviolable.
The guests slowly took the initiative and tried to create chances in the opponent's half, but we only saw a few attempts at shots on Jovcevski's goal, first from Shabani who was embarrassed, and then from Radevski who at least managed to hit the ball even though it went far from the goal.
In the last 15 minutes of the first half there were frequent interruptions, but the attempts to shake things up came in the counterattacks. In the 31st minute Ivanovski was at the center of the transition in the opponent's half, he chose to play Kerim in the empty space, but the latter ran into the penalty area without managing to get the ball in, and after taking a step back, he was already surrounded by the opponent's defenders.
Vosha led Struga TL's attacks on the right side, and he made his best move in the 45th minute when, instead of looking for Boyku or Compaoré, he managed to find Marjan Radevski in the penalty area. He, in turn, in the manner of an experienced goal scorer, headed the ball into Pelister's net, dominating over Hristijan Stojanovski, who might have expected a foul, but it had already been seen in several previous cases that referee Ilioski tolerated rougher play.
Pelister coach Milan Stojanoski made three changes at the start of the second half, but failed to immediately return the initiative to the Bitola team.
In the 60th minute after the start over Boskovski, the new signing Bulatović tried to cross from the left side, but the rebound actually served as a counterattack, and in the end, due to a clumsy intervention by several players from the home team's defense, Radevski hit the post from the right.
Perhaps that moment was a wake-up call, as Pelister won a corner kick in the next attack after Ivanovski's shot that could have led to a spectacular own goal. After the corner, Angeletti's net was shaken, but the referee disallowed the goal after a complaint from the assistant referee, and then the VAR review confirmed that decision.
In the 73rd minute, Ristevski sent a good cross from the right, and Petkovski found himself in a position to shoot, but Angeletti reacted and saved Pelister's best-made chance.
Two excellent counterattacks brought excitement in the 75th minute after the changes made by Blendi Shkembe, with the first situation having newcomer Maleski having a chance for Struga TL, while on the opposite side Boskovski and Petkovski tried, but failed, to outsmart Angeletti.
Struga TL was physically dominant in the final minutes, easily breaking through the opponent's half. Compaore broke through on the right in the 79th minute, brutally fouled Stefan Spiroski, entered the penalty area and scored. While the visitors' players were celebrating, the VAR room again had to react and overturn what Vlatko Ilioski did not see.
The final score was achieved in the 87th minute when Maleski led the away team's attack through the middle, played Jeftovski on the left who entered the penalty area and returned the ball to Maleski, who routinely scored without a defender by his side.
Towards the end, Maleski had another chance to score, but it went over the goal.
Pelister remains goalless for the third match in a row, and with that, they have 23 points, which brings them to tenth place in the table.
