Botev Plovdiv achieved an important 3:1 victory in their September visit to Sofia. The match from the 9th round of the First League was played at the Lokomotiv Stadium in the capital’s Nadezhda district.
The “Yellow-Blacks” were the better team on the field throughout the entire 90 minutes. The success came after debut goals by Oko-Flex and Mascote.
From the very first minutes, the “canaries” exerted pressure and it paid off in the 9th minute, when Nikolay Minkov combined with Armstrong Oko-Flex, the winger turned and with a technical shot brought the Botev team ahead.
In the 34th minute, the home team equalized. Serber wedged himself between several defenders and passed to Georgi Varbanov, who shot into the far corner to equalize – 1:1.
At the end of the first half, Gabriel Noga collided with an opposing player and was forced to be substituted, and the Brazilian defender will be absent from the field in the following matches.
At the beginning of the second half, Botev was given the right to take a penalty, but Todor Nedelev’s shot from the penalty spot was saved by Yanko Georgiev.
In the 57th minute, Nikola Iliev, who made a strong entry from the bench, shot at Yanko Georgiev, but the goalkeeper was careful and saved.
In the 72nd minute, Wade came very roughly into Enock Kwateng’s body and the home team player was deservedly sent off with a straight red card.
Yellow-black team players quickly took advantage of their numerical advantage and scored a second goal in the 76th minute. Nikolay Minkov provided a second assist, crossing to Franklin Mascote, and the Brazilian striker checked Georgiev with a beautiful shot.
In the following minutes, the game was quite nervous, and the Plovdiv team was unable to establish full control of the match and the hosts reached a number of static situations.
However, deep into added time, Armstrong Oko-Flex was brought face to face with Yanko Georgiev and easily sealed the final score.
Septemvri: 21. Yanko Georgiev – 27. Georgi Varbanov, 4. Martin Hristov, 13. Kubrat Jonashchi (K), 3. Sebastian Wade – 6. Viktor Ochai, 28. Stoyan Stoichkov – 17. Nicolas Fontaine, 10. Clery Cerber, 7. Moy Parra – 9. Bertrand Fourier
Subs: 12. Vladimir Ivanov, 20. Bozhidar Tomovski, 33. Galin Ivanov, 5. Yoan Baurenski, 29. Zahari Atanasov, 11. Aleksandar Dzhamov, 26. Valentine Ozornvafor, 25. Ali Aruna, 23. Robin Shuten, 14. Simeon Vassilev
Coach: Stamen Belchev
Botev Plovdiv: 29. Daniel Naumov, 2. Gabriel Noga, 6. Andrey Yordanov, 8. Todor Nedelev (K), 9. Dimitar Mitkov, 17. Nikolay Minkov, 22. Enock Kwateng, 23. Armstrong Oko-Flex, 25. Emmanuel Ojo, 27. Emil Martinov, 87. Simeon Petrov
Subs: 1. Hristian Slavkov, 3. John Emmanuel, 4. Nikola Soldo, 5. Martin Georgiev, 7. Nikola Iliev, 13. Samuil Tsonov, 20. Steven Petkov, 30. Franklin Mascote, 42. Ivaylo Videv
Coach: Nikolay Kirov
