Although it was expected that Struga Trim Lum's victory would not be called into question, the facts show that Pelister was one step away from a sensation and returning with one point from their away game against the leading team in the table.
Struga TL tried to put up early pressure, but Jovcevski managed to keep his goal with several sure interventions. The rejuvenated team from Bitola with Mrmacovski and Krstevski managed to counter at the start of the match, trying to have more possession, so the home team's attackers predicted by Compaore, who are statistically among the leaders in the championship, did not get a chance to stand out.
In the 21st minute, the home team created the first serious chance, Compaoré was played by Boyku, but he headed over the goal. Some ten minutes later, captain Bunjamin Shabani tried to finish the job on his own, but after penetrating the Pelister penalty area, he shot past the left post. The Bitola team tried to organize counterattacks, but most of the time they did not manage to get a shot, and only at the end of the first half did they notice the first apparent chance through Stefan Spirovski, who shot past the goal.
Although referee Stojanche Stojanov respected the advantage on several occasions, by the end of the first half he showed two yellow cards to Krstevski and Ivanovski, and in the second half he grabbed the pocket four more times, but only one of those cards was intended for the hosts, specifically for Hamza in the 55th minute.
Both coaches made changes in the middle of the second half, with Blendi Shkembi introducing Voša, Zenku and Maleski, while in the absence of Dimitar Kapinkovski (head coach of the under-18 national team), his assistants gave Angelevski, Ristic and Petkovski a chance in the same period. In the final minutes, as expected, these players left the biggest mark on the events on the field, so it was Hristijan Maleski who joined Compaoré and Radeski, and in the 85th minute he was the one who managed to shake Andrej Jovchevski's net.
That "clipped the wings" of the Bitola team, who had to accept their fifth consecutive defeat in this championship, and also their eleventh in a row in the inter-league championship matches with Struga. The pace of the game slowed down, but still, in the end, in the referee's stoppage time, i.e. in the 94th minute, Hristijan Maleski again joined the scorers' list and set the final score at 2:0.
With these three points, Struga is alone in the first position of the table with 22 points, with seven wins and one draw. Pelister welcomes Shkendija in Bitola in the next round, while Struga will have a second away game in a row, against its direct rival in the table, Vardar.
