An own goal and a Ben strike were enough to give Crvena zvezda a 2-0 win over Proleter.
Ground: Karađorđe
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Miloš Đorđić
Goalscorers: Andrejević 9' (og), Ben 56'
Proleter: Vesić, Tanasin, Andrejević, Lambulić, Ćuković (Mitrović 73'), Bukorac (Šćepanović 60'), Mićić, Čolović, Čović, Novaković (Mirosavljević 60'), Vujaklija.
Crvena zvezda: Popović, Stojković, Savić, Degenek, Rodić (Gobeljić 80'), Jovičić, Krstičić, Ben, Ebecilio (Čaušić 46'), Marin (Srnić 59'), Pavkov.
Newly-promoted Proleter have been perforing above all expectations of late, stringing five wins in previous weeks. Vladan Milojević and his team knew that they won‘t have an easy task. This was even clearer given the state of the turf at Karađorđe, which simply isn‘t up to Superliga level.
Milan Borjan was left out of the matchday squad as a precaution. The Canadian national team goalkeeper had picked up a minor injury and was given time to recover fully. Richmond Boakye remains out, so Milan Pavkov led the line again.
Crvena zvezda’s efforts were given an unlikely boost as Proleter’s Andrejević reacted poorly to a wicked Lorenzo Ebecilio cross, miskicking it and beating his own goalkeeper inside ten minutes of play.
The remainder of the first half was a rather unspectacular affair with neither team capable of mounting any meaningful moves.
Thankfully, there was some more action after the break, with both sides showing some more guile going forward. Popović had to be alert on a couple occasions, notably when Čović attempted a header.
However, the Belgrade side was the next to score. Marko Marin played an inviting pass into the box to Filip Stojković. The defender laid it nicely for Ben, who fired home from around 10 meters out.
Branko Jovičić was very unlucky not to get on the scoresheet midway through the second half, as he showed magnificent technique to connect with a looping ball on the volley. His fierce shot from way out flew just over the bar to the relief of former Zvezda goalkeeper Miloš Vesić.
The home fans thought that their team had gotten back into the game five minutes from time as Čović headed powerfully past Popović following a corner. However, the goal was chalked off because another former Crvena zvezda player, Vujaklija was interfearing the play from an offside position.
It was the last real chance of this encounter and the final whistle brought joy to the travelling fans who celebrated 14th league win of the season.