Arsenal Tivat — Mladost DG, First League

Arsenal Tivat hosted Mladost DG on Thursday evening in the First League's regular season round 7, and the visitors claimed all three points with a 1-0 win. The match ended 0:1 after A. Jovanovic's goal just before half-time gave Mladost the lead they would hold onto. We had tipped the home side at 43 per cent confidence, but the game took a different turn entirely.

The decisive moment came in the 45th minute plus two, when Jovanovic got over the line to put Mladost ahead. Before that, the match had been scrappy with Arsenal Tivat trying to work something out against a side that was not giving much away. And here's the thing — you could see from the exchanges that Arsenal Tivat were running out of legs rather quickly.

There were five yellow cards in total: J. Nikolic and S. Mandic went into the book for the hosts in the 25th and 43rd minutes respectively, while three more came in the second half at 48 and 87 minutes. The game had its moments, but nothing that changed the fundamental shape of what was happening. By then, Arsenal Tivat were left exposed whenever they lost possession.

The statistics told the story of a match where quantity did not equal quality. Arsenal Tivat had 44 per cent possession and 120 attacks compared to Mladost DG's 56 per cent and 136, but the visitors registered just one shot on target while the hosts managed three. Arsenal Tivat went for 120 attacks and came away with nothing, while Mladost DG took fewer shots but converted their only real chance.

Arsenal Tivat remain rooted to 10th place with six games played, four draws, two defeats and four points. Mladost DG sit eighth after two wins, one draw and three losses for seven points. The gap between them is three points, and this result means Mladost DG have grabbed something tangible while Arsenal Tivat are still staring at the drop.