Botev (Plovdiv) won against Spartak (Varna) 2:1 and secured a semi-final in the Bulgarian Cup tournamentš
The quarter-final match against the Falcons was played at the Hristo Botev Stadium, and Dušan Kerkez’s players received unceasing support from the stands from the first to the last minute of the match.
The Canaries started the match by pressing the opposition. Samuel Akere and Antoine Conte had good opportunities on several occasions, but the falcons defended well.
In the 8th minute of the match, Rosen Kirilov’s team organized a good attack in the center of the field. Daniel Nachev was able to lead Ahmed Akhmedov, who found Ivei Romeeš, who in turn failed to hit Matvei Igonen’s goal from close range.
In the 22nd minute, Botev came forward in the score. Samuel Akere received the ball on the right flank, entered the Spartak penalty area, dealt with a defender of the guests, and shot with his left foot from the edge of the penalty area – Georgi Georgiev touched the ball, but it flew into the net for 1:0.
By the end of the first half, the players of Spartak (Varna) had several good chances to equalize the score, but the “yellow-black” defense managed to cope.
The second 45 minutes began with pressure from the visitors, who organized good counterattacks through the middle of the pitch and threatened Botev’s goal. In the 63rd minute, Samuel Akere and James Eto’o exchanged good passes with each other. Akere entered the penalty area, tried to overcome a Falcons defender, and shot at the far corner of Georgi Georgiev, but the ball went out. A few minutes later, substitute Martin Sekulic could have scored Botev’s second goal in the match – Balogiannis crossed into the penalty area, and there, the Croatian beat the goalkeeper Georgiev, who came out unmarked. However, Sekulic’s shot did not find the outline of the goal.
In the 72nd minute, the logical thing still happened and Botev scored a second goal. Samuel Akere got involved in a wonderful way on the right flank, found the captain Ivelin Popov in the penalty area, who controlled the ball and elegantly scored in the goal of Georgi Georgiev for 2:0.
Nikolay Minkov, who also came on from the bench, entered Spartak’s half, crossed the ball, and found Martin Sekulic – he got to the ball, but his shot was inaccurate. In the 87th minute, Spartak pulled one goal back in the match through Akhmed Akhmedov.
STARTING SQUAD: 32. Matvei Igonen – 15. James Eto’o, 19. Antoine Conte (78′ – 42. Ivaylo Videv), 79. Atanas Chernev, 38. Konstantinos Balogiannis – 20. Antonio Perera, 28. Yanis Karabelyov(70′ – 17. Nikolay Minkov) – 16. Samuel Akere, 10. Ivelin Popov (К), 4. Ehije Ukaki (70′ – 18. Dimitar Papazov) – 93. Georgi Nikolov (59′ – 9. Martin Sekulic)
RESERVES: 22. Daniel Kaiser – 6. Dylan Mertens, 42. Ivaylo Videv, 43. Konstantin Pavlov, 18. Dimitar Papazov, 9. Martin Sekulic, 30. Lachezar Baltanov, 14. Faustas Steponavičius, 17. Nikolay Minkov
