Radotín Edge Polabí in Tight 1. Liga Clash
Radotín saw off Polabí 98-93 in a 1. liga fixture on Saturday evening. The hosts claimed victory in front of their own supporters, though the final scoreline barely reflected the tightness of the contest. Polabí, who sat fourth in the table before kickoff, came into this one with a superior record. Eight wins from eighteen games put them ahead of the hosts on paper.
By then, I'd been watching Radotín for fifteen years now, and I knew they didn't play the same way every season. There was something in the way they moved the ball tonight — not flashy, but deliberate. They didn't need to blow anyone away, just outlast whoever came at them. The old head settled them down when things got tight, and that's often what separates these close ones.
We'd tipped the home side at 55 per cent confidence going in, and it paid off. Not that we were any smarter than the rest — just that Radotín at home always have something to prove. They didn't bottle it when Polabí started making runs. Instead, they kept answering, point for point, quarter for quarter. That's the sort of resilience you can't quantify.
Looking at their recent form, Radotín had mixed results. A heavy 81-63 defeat to Prague B in late September followed by a narrow 81-77 loss to Liberec. Before that, they'd beaten Brno U23 Women 88-79 and Svítavy 91-78. Polabí's run was steadier — an 88-72 win over Liberec and a 75-84 defeat to Valašnici. Both sides had been finding ways to win, just not always convincingly.
The table tells you where they stand now, though there's not much to separate them. Radotín remain sixth with eight wins from eighteen. Polabí hold fourth with ten victories. The gap between fourth and sixth is two points, and this result keeps it that narrow. Neither side has anything to celebrate yet — not with the season still stretching out.
What struck me watching was how Polabí refused to go away. They came back from deficits, pressed when needed, and kept the score close until the final minutes. But Radotín have a habit of grinding these out. They didn't throw everything at it in the last quarter — just held their shape and made Polabí pay for mistakes. The wheels came off for the visitors when they tried to force it.
So Radotín move up to fifth, one point clear of Polabí. It's not a statement win, but it's the sort of result that builds momentum. Sixteen points from eighteen games puts them in the hunt, even if they've lost ten already. Polabí will look at this and wonder what changed in those final minutes — because for twenty minutes of the game, it was anyone's match.
