Crvena zvezda conceded a late goal to only draw at Irtysh Pavlodar in the Europa League Second Qualifying Round First Leg.
Ground: Central Stadium, Pavlodar
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Marius Avram (Romania)
Goalscorers: Živković (pen) 93' - Boakye (pen) u 51'.
Teams:
FC Irtysh Pavlodar: Loria, Kislitsyn, Antonio, Kalinin, Dautov, Živković, Geteriyev, Stamenković, Fonseca, Maslać, Bugaev.
Substitutes: Kalmykov, Aliyev, Darabayev, Fofana, Popov, Yessimov, Shabalin.
Crvena zvezda: Manojlović, Stojković, Savić, Le Tallec, Anđelković, Donald, Jovičić, Kanga, Srnić, Ricardinho, Boakye.
Substitutes: Kahriman, Frimpong, Račić, Milijaš, Milić, Ruiz, Vučićević.
Head Coach Vladan Milojević handed Branko Jovičić his Crvena zvezda debut. The former Amkar Perm midfielder slotted in a central midfield position along recalled Mitchell Donald, while Damien Le Tallec dropped back to centre back with Abraham Frimpong on the bench.
Crvena zvezda, clad in their new navy away kit, looked the better side early on and had a few good spells of possession, but that final ball didn’t seem to come. Guélor Kanga found himself in decent positions on 6 minutes and again midway through the first period, but he couldn’t get a good shot on goal.
Our team attacked from the flanks, with Slavoljub Srnić switching sides in attempt to catch defenders off guard. Full backs Anđelković and Stojković joined in by whipping crosses towards Richmond Boakye. But it was Boakye who created the best chance for himself, but his shot was blocked.
Irtysh, who finished third in last season’s Kazakhstan Premier League, had a couple of chances, but our goalkeeper Filip Manojlović did well to deny home forwards.
Second half began well for Milojević’s team as Kanga was felled in the Iryish box on 51 minutes. Romanian referee pointed to the spot and Richmond Boakye scored easily to make it 1-0 to the Serbian club.
Our team controlled the remainder of the match well and only looked like increasing the lead with Nenad Milijaš coming off the bench for Kanga to add some experience to the middle of the park.
Ruiz and Račić were also brought on , but it was the home team who found the net late on.
Irtysh tried a long ball late on and Dušan Anđelković reacted poorly to concede a penalty that Stefan Živković converted to deny Zvezda a vital win.
The return leg will be played next Thursday at Rajko Mitić Stadium.