Mozzart Bet Serbian Super Liga round 18 fixture
Venue: SRC Mladost, Pancevo
Kick-off time: 7pm CET
Referee: Aleksandar Zivkovic
Yellow cards: Stojanovic, Sanogo (ZEL) – Zubairu, Stjepanovic (PAR)
GOALS: 0-1 `66 Nikolic
Teams:
ZELEZNICAR
Popovic, Yusif (MIlosavljevic 86), Milunovic, Djuricic, Stojanovic, Knezevic (Mitrovic 60), Sanogo (Sekulic 86), Cvetkovic (Ben 78), Ezeh (Curic 78), Romanic
PARTIZAN
A Jovanovic, Filipovic (Roganovic HT), Arriaga, Ilic, Mujakic, Scekic (Stjepanovic HT), Jankovic (Ugresic 90+4), Natcho (Kovac 79), Kalulu, Zubairu, Nikolic (D Jovanovic 86)
Partizan beat Zeleznicar 1-0 away for a third league win in a row and a fourth successive win over last season`s SSL newcomers.
Caretaker boss Marko Jovanovic made one starting line-up change from last Wednesday`s league game – youngster Dimitrije Jankovic made his first full start at the expense of Kovac.
Early exchanges were all about Aldo Kalulu. Congolese winger made a number of right-side breaks, still there were no opportunities created early on apart from Nikolic`s header on 9 after Kalulu`s cross but for Zeleznicar keeper to make a comfortable save.
Home side started to show up at the final third but Partizan defence managed to deal with everything thrown at them with relative ease.
Romanic got himself in a great opportunity on 35 but Partizan keeper Jovanovic made a trademark brilliant save in this one-on-one situation.
Moments later, youngster Jankovic send a low shot comfortably saved by the keeper while Ezeh was in action soon after on the other side but his quite angled close range shot was met by a palm save from keeper Jovanovic.
Natcho saw his shot blocked on 40 while seasoned Israeli playmaker did his best to send a pinpoint long ball forward on 41 to Kalulu who sent a first-touch shot inside the box for Zeleznicar keeper to make a brilliant save.
Zubairu was booked in the first-half stoppage time and it remained goalless at the break over a drizzly conditions.
Caretaker boss Jovanovic made two subs at half-time with another Partizan youngster making his debut – right-back Roganovic. He came in for Filipovic while another club`s academy graduate Stjepanovic came in for Scekic.
Home side created a couple of promising attacks early after the break while Nikolic headed the ball wide on 54 after fine right flank set-piece ball from Natcho.
Nikolic`s third header of the day proved decisive – he was well-positioned to latch onto the pinpoint cross from Mujakic and send the ball home for a Partizan one-nil lead on 66.
Kovac came in for Natcho on 79 while Nikolic was subbed seven mins later for young forward Dusan Jovanovic to make another cameo appearance.
Early in the stoppage time, Ilic and Milunovic needed a treatment after a head collision in the Partizan box so five minutes of stoppage time turned into eight with boss Jovanovic introducing another youngster on the field – Ugresic came on 90+4 to make his cameo debut.
Just before the final whistle, Zeleznicar had a great opportunity to shock Partizan but Jovanovic made a magnificent save to prevent Cvetkovic from scoring.
Partizan remains second-placed with game in hand and five points clear of third-placed Mladost.
