CSM Râmnicu Vâlcea claimed a 3:2 victory over Bihor Oradea in the eighth round of Liga II's Regular Season on Sunday. The result shifts the home side to 11 points while the visitors remain on 9 as they jostle for position near the foot of the table. To be fair, neither side looked like they were going to control the game from the outset.
Minutes from kick-off and already a goal apiece. N. Jermol opened the scoring for the hosts in the eighth minute, and M. Danciu responded for Bihor almost immediately in the ninth. A. Orban restored Râmnicu Vâlcea's lead before the break with a goal in the fortieth minute, and here's the thing — the home side had already started to work the channels with some purpose.
Bihor pulled one back through B. Lemac in the forty-eighth minute, only for D. Huiban to restore the two-goal cushion in the fifty-sixth. The visitors saw the game out after that, with the hosts making several changes trying to hold on. A. Salcianu and V. Constantin came on together in the forty-sixth, while J. Dolny replaced N. Jermol in the sixty-fourth as the match began to drag.
The statistics tell a story of one-sided dominance without one-sided results. Bihor enjoyed 61 per cent possession and registered 98 attacks to the hosts' 76, yet Râmnicu Vâlcea found more success in front of goal with five shots on target for three goals. Bihor landed six shots on target but could only convert two, which is the sort of inefficiency that keeps you in the lower reaches.
Yellow cards came at regular intervals — M. Velisar and A. Purice were booked in the second half, while I. Filip picked up his caution in the thirtieth minute. The home side made seven substitutions across the match, with A. Orban and D. Huiban both coming off in the seventy-fifth minute.
For Râmnicu Vâlcea, this was a recovery from the 4:0 defeat to Cetatea Suceava last week, a result that had left them looking vulnerable. Bihor Oradea, meanwhile, had come into the fixture on the back of a 3:0 win over Steaua București, but they were unable to carry that momentum into a proper away performance. The gap between them in the table remains two points after eight rounds, and by then it was clear neither side had much room for error.