Arda Kardzhali moved into fifth place in the First League after beating Dunav Ruse 2-0 at the Ruse stadium on Saturday evening. The visitors took the lead through B. Karagaren in the sixteenth minute and added a second goal to seal the result. S. Kovachev scored the second in the sixtieth, and by then the match was already slipping away from the hosts.
Karagaren's opener came early in the game, and it gave the visitors a foothold they never really lost. To be fair, Dunav Ruse did not respond well, and the visitors began to control the tempo. The home side had 36 per cent possession but could not find a way through, and here's the thing — they rarely looked likely to.
Kovachev doubled the lead two hours into the season, and the momentum shifted completely. Arda then pushed on, and the home side grew desperate. J. C. Cabarcas Perez picked up a second yellow card in the seventy-ninth minute, and the red card left Dunav with ten men for the closing stages.
The statistics tell a story that the scoreline already showed. Arda registered 122 attacks compared to 93 for the hosts, and they held 64 per cent possession. Both sides hit three shots on target, but Arda created more volume overall. The visitors were clinical; the hosts were not.
Arda now sit on 16 points from eight games, five wins and one draw. Dunav Ruse remain in thirteenth with just 4 points, one win and six defeats. They have not won since the opening day, and this result extends their struggles further.