Crvena zvezda maintained a spell of fine home form with a convincing 4-0 win over Superliga newcomers FK Mačva Šabac. The visitors were given no chance by a rampant Belgrade side.
Ground: Rajko Mitić Stadium
Attendance: 7,640
Referee: Dejan Santrač
Goalscorers: Boakye 20', Protić (og) 29', Pešić 53', Luka Ilić 89'
Teams:
Crvena zvezda: Borjan, Stojković, Savić, Le Tallec, Rodić, Donald, Krstičić, L. Ilić, Radonjić, Pešić, Boakye.
Substitutes: Supić, Gobeljić, Babić, Anđelković, Račić, Milijaš, Adžić.
Mačva: Filipović, Protić, Đurišić, Ristivojević, Jevtić, Gemović, Obrovac, Matić, Gjorgievski, Adamović, Jeremić.
Substitutes: Puletić, Pejović, Jovanović, Arsenijević, Milinković, Hrubik, Vladisavljević.
Head Coach Vladan Milojević has been speaking about the kind of performances he wants from his players and the key word was “professionalism”. This was another highly professional display that was required to secure the points against a Mačva team clearly willing to play attacking football.
Crvena zvezda had a chance to open the scoring inside ten minutes, but Richmond Boakye's penalty was well saved by Filipović. But it didn't put our Ghanaian striker off and he continued to move well and he was able to put his miss behind him as he finished off a nice move by Pešić and Krstičić.
It was 2-0 less than ten minutes later when Radonjić drilled a cross from the right hand side and Mačva's defender Protić reacted poorly and put it in his own net.
There were many chances in the period between 25th and 45th minute and Mačva players could count themselves lucky to get away with just a two-goal deficit.
As expected, home players didn't charge quite so eagerly to attack after the break, probably trying to preserve as much energy as possible for the upcoming Europa League match on Thursday.
Nemanja Radonjić's pace was too much for defenders again on 53 minutes as the winger escaped his markers and put in a cross that was easily finished by Aleksandar Pešić to make it 3-0.
There was a special moment for young Luka Ilić who marked his first start for the club by scoring his first senior goal late in the match to wrap up what turned up to be an easy win for the red-and-whites on a day when everything went right.
Next up for Milojević's men is a home match against Arsenal in the Europa League on Thursday.