Rabotnicki begins playoff phase with loss in Tetovo

Rabotnicki lost 3-1 to Skendija in Tetovo in the first round of the playoff phase of the Macedonian First League.

Skendija took the lead very early, after just three minutes of play. After Ibraimi’s corner from the right side, Zunior was the right place at the right time at the second post, scoring the first goal for the hosts. After this goal Rabotnicki started playing much better, Altiparmakovski and Trajcevski tried to score an equalizer, but couldn’t find a way to beat Zahov.

The host team started the second half dictating the tempo. Alimi and Demiri missed two good chances in the first five minutes before Ibraimi scored from a dubious penalty in the 53. Minute. Just two minutes later coach Franc had even bigger problems when Siljanovski undeservedly got a red card after a clash with Zunior.

Even with one less player on the field our team didn’t give up, even managing to score a goal, a great one by Bojan Najdenov. Rabotnicki tried to score a second goal, with Ilievski going close from free kick. Our open play left too much place on the field and Skendija took advantage of that, scoring w third goal from a counter attack through Alimi.

Good news for coach Franc was that Borce Manevski finally made a debut in our shirt this season, putting the injury problems behind him. He played only seven minutes in Tetovo, but definitely wil be leading our attack line in the next matches.

SKENDIJA – RABOTNICKI   3-1 (1-0)

Stadium in Tetovo. Spectators: 7.000. Referee: Aleksandr Stavrev. Scorers: Zunior 3’, Ibraimi 58’ (p), Alimi 85’ (S), Najdenov 63’ (R). Red card: Siljanovski (R), Yellow cards: Zunior, Radeski, Polozani (S), Najdenov (R)

SKENDIJA: Zahov, Merajic, Cuculi, Bejtulai, Todorovski, Alimi, Demiri, Vujcic, Radeski, Zunior, Ibraimi.

RABOTNICKI: Siskovski, Ilievski, Siljanovski, Najdovski, Cikarski, Elmaz (Manevski 82’), Trajcevski, Petrovic, Galic (Jovanoski 75’), Altiparmakovski (Ristovski 88’)