Botev Plovdiv suffered a painful 2:3 loss to Lokomotiv Sofia in a match from the 19th round of the First League. The match was played at the Lokomotiv Stadium in the capital’s “Nadezhda” district.
The match started very badly for Botev, who conceded two goals in the first 18 minutes. In the 16th minute, Bozhidar Katsarov intercepted a cross from a corner, and two minutes later, Caue Caruso scored from close range.
The “Yellow-Blacks” responded in the 30th minute when Konstantinos Balloggianis crossed from a corner kick, and Franklin Mascotte headed the ball into the net for 2:1.
After the break, Botev was in complete control of the game on the bad pitch. In the 50th minute, Nikola Iliev made a wonderful pass to Franklin Mascotte, who was face to face with the goalkeeper, but shot inaccurately.
In the 64th minute, a shot by Oko-Flex was parried by Velichkov, and in the 71st minute, the home team’s goalkeeper saved a very beautiful shot by Nikolay Minkov.
4 minutes later, the side post stopped a shot by Andrey Yordanov, and a few seconds later, a shot by Ballogiannis was saved by the goalkeeper. The logical thing happened in the 87th minute, when Oko-Flex crossed and Mascotte headed in the equalizer – 2:2.
After the goal, Lokomotiv got a better sense of the situation and in the 89th minute Atska hit the post, and seconds later Biatumusoka scored with a header for the final 3:2.
Lokomotiv Sofia: 99 Martin Velichkov, 44 Bozhidar Katsarov, 14 Angel Lyaskov, 2 Juniet Ali, 13 Diego Raposo, 5 Erol Dost, 77 Caue Caruso, 31 Krasimir Stanoev, , 3 Messi Biatumusoka, 4 Sadio Dembele, 7 Spas Delev
Subs: 24 Alexander Lyubenov, 10 Georgi Minchev, 26 Krasimir Miloshev, 21 Christian Chachev, 8 Luann Boy, 28 Ntonalnto Atsca, 58 Octavio Merlo, 15 Luka Ivanov, 9 Boycho Velichkov
Head coach: Stanislav Genchev
Botev Plovdiv: 29 Daniel Naumov, 3 John Emmanuel, 6 Andrey Yordanov, 7 Nikola Iliev, 17 Nikolay Minkov, 22 Enok Kwateng, 23 Armstrong Oko-Flex, 30 Franklin Mascotte, 38 Konstantinos Ballogiannis, 42 Ivaylo Videv, 87 Simeon Petrov.
Subs: 1 Hristiyan Slavkov, 2 Gabriel Noga, 4 Nikola Soldo, 5 Martin Georgiev, 9 Dimitar Mitkov, 10 Tales Da Silva, 20 Steven Petkov, 77 Lucas Oliveira, 90 Samuel Kalu
Head coach: DImitar Dimitrov
