Yavor took on Naftagas in the First League's regular season round ten and came out 4-2 winners on Monday. The result tightens the gap between fourth and thirteenth, though both sides have played ten games already. I watched the whole thing and what sticks is how the game opened up early, not the sort of cautious start you expect from mid-table clashes.
Maricic put Yavor ahead in the twenty-fifth minute, and here's the thing — it wasn't a fluke. Cande doubled the lead four minutes later, though he'd already picked up a yellow card in the eighth. By then Naftagas looked like they were chasing shadows, and to be fair, their shape at the back had been questionable from the off.
Kovacevic made it three before the break, which shifted the momentum entirely. Naftagas replied through Radonjic in the fifty-eighth, but the timing was poor — they were reduced to ten men earlier in the half and never quite recovered their footing. Stankovic restored the two-goal cushion in the sixty-ninth, and that's when the match turned into a procession.
The substitutions tell a story too. Yavor brought on Arsovic and Ilic together in the sixty-first, a double change that suggested confidence rather than concern. Naftagas were still trying to find a way back when Saliman added a late consolation in the eightieth. Gavric picked up a yellow in the ninetieth, a sign of frustration rather than anything else.
Yavor sit on 19 points after ten games, five wins and four draws. Naftagas remain on seven with only one victory, though their recent form has been tighter — two draws on the bounce before this one. The result extends Yavor's unbeaten run and leaves Naftagas staring at the drop, even if the table doesn't yet reflect how close some of those losses have been.
