Three goals scored in the first 30 minutes and full control of the match until the last whistle – this is how Arka Gdynia’s players inaugurated the spring league competition! Karol Czubak opened the scoring in the 3rd minute, and the next two goals belonged to Olaf Kobacki. In the second half, Tornike Gaprindashvili and Alassane Sidibe made their debuts in our team.
Fortuna 1 league – 20th round of the 2023/24 season
Polonia Warszawa – Arka Gdynia 0:3 (0:3)
Goals: Czubak 3′, Kobacki 12′, 28′
Poland: Bąkowski – Grudniewski (25′ Majsterek), Kowalski-Haberek, Kołodziejski, Pawłowski (46′ Zawistowski), Marciniec (81′ Wojciechowski), Koton, Biedrzycki, Bajdur (46′ Kluska), Auzmendi (73′ Michalski), Kobusiński
Back: Lenarcik – Stolc, Marcjanik, Dobrotka, Gojny – Milewski (84′ Predenkiewicz), Gol (75′ Borecki), Adamczyk (75′ Gaprindashwili) – Skóra (63′ Lipkowski), Kobacki (84′ Sidibe) – Czubak
Yellow cards: Score, Sidibe
Judge: Patryk Gryckiewicz (Toruń); VAR: Grzegorz Kawałko (Wyszowate)
Viewers:
The turn of the year is always a difficult time for football fans in Poland. During the last weeks of December, all of January and the beginning of February, our attention is focused on what is happening around the club, on transfers, and we only experience a taste of football during sparring. However, this period is over – league games are back, so you can once once more enjoy the excitement of sports competition, support your players, add points to the table and analyze your chances of achieving success. This time, the winter break was exceptionally long for fans in Gdynia, because the yellow and blue team spent it in the leader’s seat, so they started the first spring series of matches with high hopes. We all dream that this will be the last round in the Fortuna 1 Liga, and in the next season we want to face the best teams in Poland.
The Ark team is starting to resume the games following an intensive preparation period, but, as coach Wojciech Łobodziński emphasized, in full health and with an optimistic attitude. Arka will be supported in the fight for promotion by the newly acquired players: Georgian Tornike Gaprindashvili, Ivorian Alassane Sidibe and Hubert Turski. We should also remember regarding Abdallah Hafez, who is recovering and waiting for his official debut in the yellow and blue jersey.
In Warsaw, where Arka returned to the league competition, there was no place in the match twenty for the Egyptian, and three new players sat on the reserve bench. The Gdynia coach focused on his “iron” eleven, which performed so well in the fall, but we might be sure that in the second half of the match at Konwiktorska we would see debuts in our team.
Just 20 seconds following the first whistle, we saw the first shot towards the home team’s goal. Olaf Kobacki shot it from 18 meters, but he missed it slightly. What failed in the first minute, Arka managed in the third – Kacper Skóra sent a great through ball, Czubak ran behind the defenders and, being alone with Bąkowski, opened the scoring with a groundstroke!
In the sixth minute it should have been 2-0, but Polonia miraculously avoided losing a goal. After Adamczyk and Gojny played the ball on the left side of the Black Shirts penalty area, the ball was sent to the center of the sixteen and went to Kobacki, whose shot was deflected by the goalkeeper. Skóra fought for a follow-up, and although he was close to success, he did not shoot in the end.
In the twelfth minute, Arka’s overwhelming advantage was documented by the second goal. Michał Marcjanik once more sent a long ball behind the line of defenders, this time it was taken over by Kobacki and now Olaf was face to face with the hosts’ goalkeeper, and just like Czubak a few minutes earlier, once once more the Arka player came out on top in this duel. It was a dream start to the match in Warsaw!
In the 17th minute, the third goal for the yellow and blue team was close. Czubak successfully fought with Polonia’s defenders on the penalty area line and passed the ball to Gojny. He decided to take a shot and the ball stopped on the post!
Arka didn’t stop and kept looking for more hits. After a moment to catch our breath, when Polonia finally arrived in our penalty area, we saw the third goal. In the 28th minute, Adamczyk played into the penalty area to Kobacki, who was moving into position, and with a strong shot at the near post, he placed the ball into Polonia’s goal. The hosts were on their knees…
The Ark team had full control of the match, because even when the Polish players tried to create an action in our team’s penalty area, it usually ended in Lenarcik’s hands or the ball was sent out of bounds. In turn, when the guests decided to attack, it immediately felt like another goal. This was also the case in the 43rd minute following the action of Czubak and Kobacki, when the latter, instead of deciding to shoot, decided to pass to Karol so that he might score his tenth goal of the season, but his intention was read by Bąkowski, who blocked the shot.
After the change of sides, it was obvious that the hosts would want to erase the terrible impression following the first half at all costs, because they started to play with greater determination, more sharply and decisively. In the 52nd minute, Kołodziejski was on the left side of our penalty area, and his cross to the sixth meter caused a lot of confusion in front of Arka’s goal, but the shot was avoided. In response, a few minutes later, under the second goal, Czubak lacked accuracy and wanted to pass the ball to Skóra, but he had to do it with good taste.
Polonia was pressing and it was getting more and more dangerous in front of our goal. Most of the actions were carried out on the right wing, from where the hosts made several dangerous central moves, but luckily we still avoided hitting Lenarcik’s goal. In the 64th minute, Auzmendi took a free kick from 20 meters, but sent the ball over the crossbar. Arkowiec, on the other hand, threatened with counter-attacks – in the 68th minute, following such an action, Kobacki was looking for a pass to Milewski’s fifth meter, but Sebastian was a few centimeters short of closing the action.
Two minutes later, Kobacki had fun with several of Polonia’s rivals – he made a few feints, leading his opponents into the field, and then took a shot that was saved by Bąkowski. Stolc made another quick follow-up, but our defender’s shot lacked precision. A minute later, Janusz Gol decided to take a shot from outside the penalty area, and the Polonia goalkeeper knocked the ball heading under the crossbar.
Fifteen minutes before the end, we had our first debut in our team. Tornike Gaprindashvili appeared on the pitch and replaced Adamczyk on the pitch. In the 78th minute, the Georgian made his first brilliant move in the hosts’ penalty area, leading one of the defenders into the field, but the shot was blocked. A moment later, Gojny deserved applause as he stopped Arka Michalski in the sixteen.
The second debut came in the 84th minute. Then Alassane Sidibe appeared on the square and replaced the best player of the match, Olaf Kobacki, his teammate from Atalanta Bergamo. While Gaprindashvili greeted Arka with a nice action following appearing on the pitch, Sidibe received a yellow card shortly following entering the match for “stamping” the opponent’s foot.
In the 88th minute, a corner kick might have brought Polonia an honorable goal, because Majsterek overtook Stolec and pushed the ball towards our goal, but only into Lenracik’s hands. A minute later we were already in the hosts’ penalty area, where Gaprindashvili looked for a pass from Czubak, but he was overtaken at the last moment by Bąkowski. Already in added time, the Georgian had his chance following an individual charge into the penalty area, but he missed the chance to shoot.
It was a dream inauguration of spring for the yellow and blue team. Full control of the events on the field from the first to the last minute, and three goals were the lowest penalty that might be imposed on Polonia today. The entire team played a great match, and the debuting Gaprindashvili showed a good performance, so the fans have no choice but to wait for the next match, which Arka will play once morest Stal Rzeszów next Sunday at the Olympic Stadium.
Arkadiusz Skubek
Polonia Warszawa – Arka Gdynia
Goals
0
3
Shots
7
17
Accurate
3
6
Corner kicks
4
4
Foul
7
17
Burnt
0
0
Ball possession
48%
52%
Yellow cards
0
2
Red cards
0
0
source of match statistics: State score
TICKETS FOR THE SPRING ROUND
