GKS Katowice beat Cracovia 3-2 on Saturday in the Ekstraklasa, a match that finished with five goals after half-time and left the hosts still ninth in the table. The result extended Cracovia's winless run to four games, while Katowice picked up their fourth win from eight league matches. We had tipped the home side to win, and it came through, though not without a fair amount of nervous watching.
The first half was a quiet affair, but minute twenty brought the turning point. Minchev struck just after the break, capitalising on a chance that looked to have been waiting all along. Katowice pressed forward from there, but Cracovia held firm until the penalty decision changed everything.
Wasielewski pointed to the spot after a VAR check, and Nowak made no mistake from the spot. The momentum shifted again when Wdowiak doubled the lead shortly after, and Nordås added a third before the hour was up. Cracovia never stopped chasing the game, and Shkurin's late strike gave them something to hold onto.
Katowice dominated possession at 63 per cent and registered fifteen shots on target, though they only hit the net five times. Cracovia managed three shots on target from eleven attempts, and their goalkeeper made three saves to keep the deficit manageable. The statistics tell a simple story — many chances went begging for the hosts, and the away side made do with what they had.
By then, the result meant nothing more than two points either way. Katowice remain nine points off the top half, while Cracovia sit twelve behind the leaders with two games left to play. The line has barely moved, and both sides will need more than this kind of scrap to climb.
