Metalul Buzău hosted Chindia Târgoviște in the fifth round of Liga II's regular season on 29 August 2026, and the visitors took all three points with a 3-1 victory. The match opened with Metalul pressing forward, but Chindia struck first through Totti in the eighteenth minute before V. Robu added a second just nine minutes later. By then the visitors had already shifted the momentum, though Metalul refused to lie down.
C. Bortoneanu picked up the first yellow card in the sixth minute, and D. Celea followed in the twenty-fifth as the home side tried to impose themselves. Three more bookings came before half-time, including A. Cublesan in the thirty-sixth. Metalul made four changes at the break — V. Bogdan, D. Popadiuc, A. Baluta and D. Bancila — hoping something would shift.
And here's the thing: the adjustments worked briefly. D. Celea pulled one back for Metalul in the fiftieth minute, and suddenly the match felt wider. Chindia responded with two substitutions in the fifty-eighth, bringing on A. Nica and A. Moldovan, though the visitors did not need to chase the game. To be fair, they had already done enough.
The turning point arrived in the sixty-fourth minute when A. Cublesan collected a second yellow card and was sent off. Both a yellow and a red came in the same minute for the same player, leaving Metalul with ten men for the remainder. C. Bortoneanu was then substituted in the seventieth as the home side tried to manage the deficit, with less than twenty minutes remaining.
C. Negut sealed the result for Chindia in the seventy-fourth minute, and F. Puiu came on for the visitors in the seventy-fifth. A. Bruma picked up a yellow card for Chindia in the eighty-ninth, but the outcome was already settled. The home side had nothing further to play for once they lost their man.
The statistics tell a story of possession without penetration. Metalul claimed 53 per cent of the ball and registered 70 attacks with seven corners, but only four shots found the target. Chindia had slightly less possession at 47 per cent, yet also managed four shots on target from 74 attacks and just two corners. Both sides missed eight shots off target between them, though the visitors were more clinical in front of goal.
Metalul now sit twelfth with seven points from five games — two wins, one draw and two defeats. Chindia move up to fifth with nine points, though they have also lost twice. The gap between them remains narrow, but the result gives the visitors something to build on.
