Shamotsin booked their place in the Round of 32 after a 2-1 victory over Racha in the Cup, Round of 64 on Tuesday. The hosts took an early lead but could not hold on as the visitors turned the game around in the second half. Z. Kolarik opened the scoring before O. Ihejirika struck twice for the away side.
Racha went ahead in the twenty-eighth minute when Kolarik found the back of the net. Shamotsin had a chance to respond shortly before the break but a penalty at the fifty-fourth minute was missed. And here's the thing — that miss seemed to shift something in the momentum, though neither side could add to the scoreline before the interval.
The second half belonged to Shamotsin. They equalised in the sixty-fifth minute and then took the lead through Ihejirika in the seventy-sixth. To be fair, Racha had their moments but could not find the consistency needed to trouble the opposition goalkeeper after that penalty opportunity.
The statistics tell their own story. Racha managed just one shot on target across the ninety minutes compared to Shamotsin's fifteen. The visitors dominated possession at sixty-four per cent and registered one hundred attacks against seventy-six for their hosts. Three corners to ten was another indication of who controlled the game.
Racha had shown reasonable form recently, including a 3-0 win over Bernolakovo in August, but this cup tie exposed the gap in quality. Shamotsin, meanwhile, came into the match off a 2-1 victory over Bytcha just three days earlier. By then the visitors were finding their rhythm, and it showed in the final score.
