Gloria Bistrita saw off Viitorul Shelimber 2:1 in the opening fixture of Liga II's regular season on Saturday. The home side took all three points at their ground, closing out a hard-fought contest against a visitors' outfit that had looked resilient in previous encounters.
The first half ended goalless despite Bistrita's early pressure, though they did pick up a yellow card in the twenty-ninth minute. To be fair, the visitors weren't without their chances, but Bistrita's shape held firm at the back.
Cosmin Bucuroiu broke the deadlock in the fifty-third minute, a moment that shifted the momentum entirely. By then, Bistrita had already settled into their rhythm, and the goal seemed to unlock something in their attack that had been simmering all game.
Costyn Gheorghe doubled the lead in the eighty-sixth minute, and then came the late drama as a third goal fell in stoppage time at ninety-two minutes. And here's the thing — whether this final strike was for Bistrita or Shelimber, it underscored how fragile these matches can be when legs go heavy.
Statistics tell part of the story. Bistrita enjoyed 59 per cent possession and registered 160 attacks compared to 115 for the visitors. They also landed six shots on target against three, though six off-target efforts suggest they weren't always sharp in the final third.
Shelimber, meanwhile, could only muster one corner and had to deal with twenty-five throw-ins — a sign they were often pushed back into their own half. The visitors showed discipline with no yellow cards, but discipline alone doesn't move you up a table.
Before kickoff, Bistrita sat fifth on twelve points from six games, with four victories and two defeats. Shelimber were sixteenth on six points, one win and three draws alongside two losses. The gap between them has widened now.
What matters for Bistrita is the direction. They've shown they can take the game to opponents and hold their nerve when it counts. Shelimber will need to find more than just resilience if they want to climb away from the bottom.