One goal win and Vidi go through to the next round

After an unusual day before the match, Vidi were in action at 7pm on Thursday night in Malta as our team set off on the artificial turf pitch in the 2nd qualifying round of the EL, at the home of Hibernians FC. Head coach Gabor Marton chose: Kovácsik - Bolla, Musliu, Stopira, Fiola - Nikolov, Alef - Nego, Houri, Petryak - Zivzivadze as his starting eleven.

We started the match well, in the 4th minute after Houri's ball to Petryak, who crossed sharply from the left, with Nego just an inch behind the ball. After two minutes we saw a good move: Zivzivadze received a good ball following a corner by Petryak, who shot from 6 meters wide of the right post!

The first home opportunity came after the 11th minute, but Shodiya's shot went well of the goal. Shortly afterwards, Petryak was in a position again, firing from 17 yards near the goal. In the 30th minute, Nego fell to the ground under suspicious circumstances within the home penalty area, but the Bulgarian referee's whistle remained silent. A minute after Fiola's pass, one of the Maltese players hit the ball with his hand, but this time the referee did not award a penalty. 

Ten minutes before the end of the half, Alef curled a ball to the top left, but Cremona saved. At the other end following a counter attack, Degabriele fired at our goal. In the 39th minute, Zivzivadze was pulled down within the 16-yard line, this time without a penalty awarded by Ivaylo Stoyanov. The last chance of the half was recorded in the 42nd minute, when Fiola's cross was saved in front of goal by a Hibernians defender.

Gabor Marton made his first change after 51 minutes when Alef came off and was replaced by Patkai. A good move on 59 minutes saw Fiola attack down the left and he took the ball between the defenders leg before shooting from a tight angle just over. That would have been a special goal had it gone in. We managed to score after 61 minutes when Petryak's corner was flicked on by Stopira and into the path of Nikolov who made no mistake from close range (0-1).

Nego fed Petryak with a fine ball after 68 minutes and from 6 meters, the winger missed a big chance from close range. Five minutes later and a long distance effort from Nikolov went over the home goal. Then the North Macedonian midfielder again tried with a shot from distance on 82 minutes. 

The home side went close to scoring in the closing minutes. First a free kick found its way to Gabriel, who powerfully sent a ball in, which just failed to meet Winchester. Then a minute later and Gabriel hit the bar from close range. 

The referee blew his whistle for full time and it is Vidi who go through to the EL Q3 next week after this 1-0 win away in Malta.