Last Week in the SPL
The Minute That Was Not Quiet
The minute's silence for Burebista III was held at all five grounds before the anthem, and both squads in every match wore black armbands. Four of them were silent. The fifth was not, and nobody has suggested it should have been.
Kragoniedin City had Sprodj Wanderers as visitors on Friday evening, which put the mountain in the away end. Sprodj is the closest league city to Zymal, where Stâna Kragon keep their stone terraces and where the Grey Ghost fell on the Sunday before. The travelling support did not stand still for their minute. They bleated. Two thousand of them in crimson and gold, hands up beside their heads with two fingers raised for horns, bleating for a goat, and holding it a good deal longer than sixty seconds. High on the third tier a couple in the away colours danced a full bloushtika through the whole of it, arms locked, the rake of the stand clapping the measure for them. Banners came down over the front: portraits of him in profile with the white blaze, a hand-painted 3 with a line struck through it, and, running the length of eight seats, ONLY MOUNTAIN BLOOD ENDURES.
Then the toy goats began coming over the hoardings. Grey ones, mostly, the sort sold from the stalls at Zymal on race Sundays. Ground staff filled four ball sacks with them, kick-off went eleven minutes late, and the referee simply let it run. Kragoniedin's own supporters, who had come to watch a club they do not much like, applauded the away end through most of it. Sprodj then went and won it in the 90th minute, which the Citadela took about as well as could be expected.
Match Results
Kropow FC 2–2 FC Klow. MANNEKIČ Vlastimil put Kropow ahead on 18 minutes and the Stadion Municipal Kropow spent an hour believing that would be enough. Then ZEMAN Davide scored twice in four minutes to turn the game entirely, only for STROOPVLAD Krystof to level it at the death.
Kragoniedin City 2–3 Sprodj Wanderers. Five goals at the Citadela, and the decisive one came in the 90th minute from VRZDENEC Vlek. PETROVIĆ Jozef and GORANIN Eugen had traded blows for the hosts either side of goals from MLINARIČ Vlad and ZIDNIKOV Gustav.
Union Niedzdrow 3–1 Vladir United. The most complete performance of the round. DJUKIC Ion, KRZMLIČ Aleksandar and JOVANOVIĆ Igor had the Stadion Mihaj Tzvengor three up inside 40 minutes; TADIĆ Milan pulled one back after the interval.
AS Douma 2–2 Dynamo Klow. An early strike from STOOFVLEK Ulrich, a reply from LUKOVIC Radu, and then nothing until the 90th minute, when RISTIC Dimitrios and PROCHÁZKA Sergei both found the net in a chaotic finish at the Arena Pelikan Tmavnî.
Elbaria Athletic 1–0 Moltus Athletic. The quietest scoreline of the weekend and the most valuable. VLAMSEK Ratko settled it on 73 minutes in a grey drizzle rolling off the Zavoj bend.
The Table
Four clubs sit on seven points after four matches. Elbaria Athletic hold first place, ahead of Union Niedzdrow, AS Douma and Vladir United on the head-to-head record that the SPL applies before any other tiebreaker. Sprodj Wanderers are a point back in fifth, which tells you how little separates the top half this early.
RISTIC Dimitrios leads the scoring charts on three goals, level with TADIĆ Milan, who has managed the same total in only two appearances. Niedzdrow will want to keep BORBENIK Zoran on the pitch: three yellows already puts him among the most booked players in the league.
Looking Ahead to Matchday 5
Vladir United host Kropow FC on Tuesday at 16:00 SRT, with Vladir looking to answer their first defeat of the season. Three hours later Sprodj Wanderers welcome Union Niedzdrow in the pick of the round, a point separating them at kickoff.
Wednesday opens with Moltus Athletic against AS Douma at 16:00 SRT, Moltus still chasing their first goal in two rounds. The evening brings two at 19:00 SRT: FC Klow face leaders Elbaria Athletic, and Dynamo Klow take on Kragoniedin City in a meeting of two sides who have drawn and lost their way through the opening month.
