Bregalnica Shtip and Shkendija Haracinë met in the sixth round of the First League on Friday evening. The visitors claimed a narrow 1-0 victory, taking three points from a match that was decided late on.
The only goal arrived in the 85th minute, and it was enough to put the game to bed early. Bregalnica had dominated possession at 45 per cent but found no answer when it mattered. The away side held on grimly through five yellow cards, three of them coming after the break.
Both teams registered three shots on target and five off target, yet the accuracy figures of 0.38 told a different story. Shkendija edged the attack count 117 to 105 and won the corners battle 3-2, while Bregalnica relied on throw-ins more heavily with 28 compared to 21. The heat took the sting out of it, but neither side could convert their chances into more than one goal.
Shkendija remain sixth with seven points from five games, two wins and one draw. Bregalnica sit eighth on six points, their three defeats already costing them ground. The gap between them is small, but the quality of results matters more than the numbers on paper.
We had given Bregalnica the edge in our preview, 39 per cent confidence on a home win. By then the visitors had shown they could take points away from home, beating Bashkimi 2-1 in their last outing. The prediction did not come off, and the match itself showed why — Shkendija were more clinical when it counted.
The result shifts nothing dramatic in the table, but it extends Shkendija's ability to collect points away from home. Bregalnica now look to bounce back after their heavy defeat to Struga, while the visitors will take heart from a performance that held firm under pressure.
