Recap
A Composed Victory
A bitterly cold afternoon in Grzegorzowice did little to chill the fiery determination of the Kraków Dragoons, who returned to winning ways with a composed 2-0 victory over Czarni Grzegorzowice.
💙🖤STARTING XI💙🖤
Hugo Cruz 🇵🇹 has named his lineup for today’s match up with Czarni 03 Grzegorzowice 👇
🧤 𝐆𝐤: 🇵🇱
🛡️ 𝐃𝐟: 🇦🇷 🇮🇹 🇵🇱 🇵🇱
⚙️ 𝐌𝐟: 🇫🇮/🇮🇹 🇵🇱 🇹🇷
🔥 𝐅𝐰: 🇨🇿 🇵🇱 🇵🇱#COYD💙🖤 pic.twitter.com/dpMUwVKJuk— Krakow Dragoons FC (@DragoonsFc) November 3, 2024
Hugo Cruz made three changes to the side that lost heavily against Orzeł Bębło last weekend. The first change came in defence as Simon Calabrese returned from absence to replace Josh Dawson. The Italian partnered Kuba Drobny, with Roman Bilovol and Piotr Hajnyrch continuing in the full-back positions.
Corneille Malonga missed the game, which saw Enrico Forabosco move to the base of the midfield. The Italian lined up alongside Emre Çolakoğlu and Szymon Urzędowski moved from the wing to make a midfield trio.
Yuri Samyonov dropped to the bench in the attack as Janek Kołodziejski took his place in central attack. Błażej Święcicki came into start on the left wing and Martin Voženílek completed the team on the right.
Kick Off
The Dragoons started brightly, looking to take the game to Czarni straight from kick-off. However, Czarni had the first real game chance despite the visitors dominating the early stages. A 6th-minute corner saw the ball recycled by the hosts and a cross swung to the back post. An opponent got his head to the ball first, but good pressure from Simon Calabrese saw the chance go wide.
Early Chances
Shortly after, the Expats managed to have the game’s first shot on target from an Enrico Forabosco free-kick. The midfield magician drilled a low effort at goal that had Grzegorz Lis scrambling across his line to turn around his post.
From the resulting corner, the Dragoons should have taken a 10th-minute lead. Forabosco’s kick found a plethora of teammates waiting at the far post. Kuba Drobny, rose highest to meet the ball but nodded wide from close range.
Emre Çolakoğlu was the next to go close on 16 minutes as the Dragoons pressed for the opening goal. A nice pass from Forabosco found Jan Kołodziejski on the edge of the box. The Polish attacker turned well and threaded a pass to put Çolakoğlu through on goal. However, the Turkish man-mountain took one touch too many, allowing Lis to close down the angle and save the midfielder’s close-range attempt.
Into the 24th minute, the Expats missed another big chance. Forabosco’s long ball saw the Czarni defence give the ball straight to Çolakoğlu. The Turk found Voženílek out wide, who crossed towards Kołodziejski putting the ball on a plate for the attacker. On this occasion, the attacker got his head to the ball but missed an absolute sitter in sending it over the bar with the goal at his mercy.
Dragoons in Control
The Dragoons continued to control the game and twice came close through Urzędowski and Forabosco. The utilityman sent a shot from range wide of the mark, however, Forabosco came closer. The playmaker linked with Urzędowski before arching a lovely curling effort towards the top corner. However, Lis in the Czarni goal read the attempt well and got a hand to the ball to tip it over.
As the minutes ticked down, the Expats found chances at a premium despite having the lion’s share of possession.
The final attempt of the half came for the home side as Damien Klimek raced with the ball on the left flank. The Czarni attacker struck a thunderous shot from an angle, but could not find the target.
Despite dominating the game, the Dragoons went into the break level. The Expats had kept their shape well, but too often had lacked that final pass and finish in the last third of the pitch.
Second Half
Following a bright start to the second half, The Dragoons almost fell behind from a freekick. The attempt floated across the box from quite some distance and caught Obytacz cold as it thumped back into play from off the crossbar.
With five minutes of the half played, the Expats created their first chance of the second period. Błażej Święcicki got down the left flank and sent a low cross into the Czarni box. Martin Voženílek did well to get across the defender, however, the winger could not get enough onto the ball and it bobbled comfortably into the arms of Lis in the home goal.
Two minutes later, Voženílek had an even better chance as the Dragoons came perilously close to the first goal. Drobny sent a long ball forward in the right channel for the Czech winger to sprint onto. Grzegorz Lis left his line in an attempt to get to the ball first with Voženílek winning the footrace and lifting the ball over the stranded keeper’s head. However, the attempt missed the target, dropping agonisingly wide of the goal.
Double Change
Sensing urgency, Hugo Cruz made a double substitution, introducing Rohit Chandran and Josh Dawson in the 61st minute. Błażej Święcicki and Piotr Hajnrych made their way as the Dragoons’ Head Coach elected to change formation.
Deadlock Finally Broken
It didn’t take long for Chandran to make his presence felt as the Indian Whirlwind gave the Expats a 64th-minute lead. Enrico Forabosco floated the ball out wide, where Voženílek touched it past an opponent and raced tenaciously after it. The Czech ran along the goalline, cutting it back to Chandran, who slotted it home with composure to finally break the deadlock.
Chandran passed up an excellent chance to double his side’s lead five minutes later. Voženílek intercepted the ball high up the field and put Kołodziejski in possession. The forward burst down the right side of the box and drilled the ball across the goal where Chandran stretched to meet it at the far post but could only divert it inches wide of the post.
With 12 minutes left, Chandran had another chance to give the Expats breathing space. Forabosco, pulling the strings on the halfway line, sent a long pass over the left flank, straight into Chandran’s path. The fleetfooted forward burst into the box, with several teammates waiting for a pass. The Indian elected to take on a shot from a tight angle but found Lis in inspired form as the keeper leapt to his left to keep out his powerful effort.
A Late Scare
Czarni, to their credit, fought back and came close to an equaliser with 10 minutes left to play. A ball into the box saw a far post header go across the goal and over Obyrtacz’s head. Klimek ran onto the ball as it bounced awkwardly away from goal but could not turn it into the net from the tightest of angles, slamming a header and himself against the outside of the post.
As the game entered the last 10 minutes, it began to take an end-to-end feel. The next chance fell to the Dragoons who should have made the game safe. Substitute Yuri Samyonov combined well with Chandran and drove across the box. The Israeli picked out fellow sub, Vałdzis Fuhaš on the edge of the box, who comically swiped at an attempted shot and missed the ball.
However, with the defenders’ backs turned, Samyonov remained alert to take possession and ran through on goal. The attacker looked certain to score with only Lis to beat but saw his effort bounce back off the post.
Straight down the other end, Czarni threw bodies forward in their attempt to score an equaliser. The Dragoons managed to stand up to most of the hosts’ attacking play, however, a powerful header from a cross had to be expertly tipped over by Obyrtacz.
PENALTY!
With time winding down in the last minute, Voženílek won a penalty after being clipped in the box. Enrico Forabosco stepped up to take the kick and smashed the ball into the net via the underside of the crossbar, making it 2-0 to put the result beyond doubt.
The closing seconds saw Voženílek come close to adding a third, following a mazy run from Chandran. The Indian whirlwind picked out the run of Voženílek, who stabbed the ball wide with just Lis to beat.
Not long after, the final whistle blew with the Dragoons earning a hard-fought three points. The victory leaves the Dragoons in 6th place ahead of next weekend’s fixture against AP Kmita II Zabierzow.
But first things first, the boys travel to Norway to face a tricky fixture against FC Oslo in the Fenix Trophy.
🏆FENIX TROPHY TIME🏆
The Dragoons 🐉 are heading to Norway! 🇳🇴
The team are making their way to Oslo in our opening game of the Fenix Trophy this year!
⚔️ FC Oslo – Dragoons FC
📅 Tuesday, 5 Nov 19:45
☁️ 4°C
🏟 Tørteberg Kunstgress pic.twitter.com/S6gX22OoFU— Krakow Dragoons FC (@DragoonsFc) November 4, 2024
Coach’s Corner
Hugo Cruz was in an upbeat mood following the win, “We played on a pitch that we know well having played there twice last season. It can be tricky due to its short dimension, the bounce of the ball and the longer grass.
But from the start we were disciplined off the ball and rarely allowed the opposition to create danger. We knew that they had competent attackers, so it was extremely important to isolate them as much as possible and defend as a block to avoid any space for a shot. I felt we did this quite well.
One thing though, although we controlled the game, we didn’t adapt very quickly to the pitch condition – something I mentioned to the boys before the match. We forced too many balls into space and we were too keen on forcing the attack which I felt was also the willingness to react after last week’s game.
Still, we created some good chances, but we would have been more in control and consistent by playing easy passing football. We had a lot of time and space on the pitch due to a lack of press, but didn’t always make the right decisions in the final third. Instead of making life easy for ourselves, we overcomplicated things by forcing the play.”.
Second half Improvement
Hugo continued, “In the second half I wanted us to implement an easier passing style to dominate the game and use a killer instinct in the opposition half.
It was looking like it would be one of those days, so I needed to do something to ensure we got the win. So I decided on a tactical switch as I wanted to create more overloads and run a little bit more at their full backs. We had worked hard, but was not quite getting in behind them as we had been in the first half and they had shown signs of life going forward and threatened us. If they had nicked a goal, it would have been harder for us as they would defend for their lives, so I had to do something to ensure we took full control.
We had good options from the bench and we know about the running and energy both Rohit and Martin bring. I wanted to take the game to them and as luck would have it, shortly after the change we managed to finally score a goal, with both wide players heavily involved.
After that, we should have closed the game with our numerous chances but it didn’t go our way. When you miss so many chances it opens you up to concede. They started asking questions of us, but we defended well and restricted them to half chances. In the end, we scored by penalty at the death which took the game away from them.”.
🏅MAN OF THE MATCH🏅
The whole team put in a great effort!
However, Enrico Forabosco 🇮🇹 was at the heartbeat of every move, putting in a real captain’s performance to get the boys over the line to win the MOTM award 🏅
Brawo Enrico 👏👊🤌#COYD💙🖤 pic.twitter.com/p7fcs8tzNk
— Krakow Dragoons FC (@DragoonsFc) November 5, 2024
Sticking to the Plan
The Head Coach concluded, “If definitely pays off to be consistent and committed to the game plan. We saw that it could be effective both in and out of possession. Overall, it was a good test and reaction to last weekend’s performance. I was proud of the reaction of the boys but we now face another test in such a short space of time in Oslo. We are an amateur side, it will be tough and we will have to bring our performance to another level. But that’s what we work for and if we want to improve, we have to be better and disciplined against teams at higher levels than us.”.
