Football United

Slavia were the better side in the first half of the match, played actively and took early lead - after the action of Sedlacek and Adauto´s cross, Karel Pitak, the traditional scorer of Slavia away goals, sent the ball to the net. While Sigma were struggling with passing and had hard time to work out a good chance, Slavia counter-attacks could have brought a second strike - unfortunately Pavel Fort wasted both of his good chances and Sedlacek´s shot was saved by Vaniak. In the 26th minute Fort ran into a great chance but decided to pass the ball to Adauto instead of a direct shot and the pass was blocked by the defender. In 44th minute he missed in a promising situation in close distance. "I should have scored, I know," said Pavel Fort after the match in sad tone. "Two-goal leading would have decided the match." Also Sigma had some opportunities, but Slavia defence worked well and prevented dangerous situations in front of Radek Cerny.



Red card starts the turn-over
The 50th minute brought one of the decisive moments of the day. Karel Pitak, who was booked in the first half for unsportsmanlike behaviour, fouled Michal Kovar and saw the red card. "It was a late challenge, I was after the ball, but Kovar managed to pass it away, I went into him," Karel Pitak described the situation. "The first yellow was stupid, though I kicked the ball after the whistle just slightly. I weakened my team and I helped Sigma to win. I am awfully sorry for this," Pitak sighed.

Reiter scores twice
It was Slovak forward Lubomir Reiter´s who scored both of Sigma goals. His first strike came in the 74th minute. He received the pass from David Kobylik in the box and sent a very precise shot to the post. The second strike came late just a minute before the end - Reiter converted a cross from Ales Bednar. Slavia concentrated on defence, being down to ten men it was not easy to counter-attack, the shots from Jakub Chleboun and Pavel Kuka were from long distance and did not endanger Sigma keeper Martin Vaniak.

Red card for Martin Latka
There were eight yellow cards and two red ones seen in the nervous match. Slavia were awarded five of the yellow ones and the second red one in the final seconds. It was Martin Latka who left the pitch earlier due to the second bookable offence.

Olomouc line-up: M. Vaniak - R. Hubnik, M. Hudec, M. Kovar, R. Kucera - R. König (46. A. Bednar), T. Randa, P. Zbozinek, D. Kobylik (86. M. Vyskocil) - P. Babnic (66. T. Bouska), L. Reiter

Slavia line-up: R. Cerny - L. Dosek, R. Bejbl, M. Latka, K. Kratochvil - K. Pitak, P. Kuka, M. Svec (30. F. Stiburek), L. Sedlacek - E. Adauto da Silva (79. J. Chleboun), P. Fort (52. D. Kalivoda)

Goals: 74. and 89. Lubomir REITER for Olomouc - 8. Karel PITAK for Slavia

Source: slavia.cz