Montana beat Lokomotiv G. Oryahovitsa 3-0 in the Second League Regular Season on Saturday. The hosts took control early and never looked back, with three goals in the first half doing most of the damage. It was a straightforward victory that shifted the balance between two sides sitting on seven points each.
And here's the thing — the opening goal came at the ninth minute, just when the match was finding its rhythm. Montana struck first and never allowed Lokomotiv to settle. The visitors had 51 per cent of possession but that meant little when they couldn't get a shot on target all afternoon.
The second goal arrived at the half-hour mark, though the exact minute isn't recorded in the available data. What's clear is that Montana doubled their advantage before the break, leaving Lokomotiv chasing the game. By then, the visitors were already flat-footed, unable to create anything meaningful from their 99 attacks.
Three more yellow cards followed in the second half — two for Montana at the 63rd and 77th minutes, one for Lokomotiv at the 81st. The discipline wasn't particularly tight, but neither side needed an extra man to see out the result. Lokomotiv had zero shots on target, while Montana managed four.
The statistics tell a simple story. Lokomotiv dominated possession and had more attacks, but Montana were far more clinical. Four shots on target against zero for the visitors says everything about efficiency. The draw brought them together early in the season, but this match separated them.
Montana move up the table on goal difference, while Lokomotiv drop further down. Both sides have played five games with identical records of two wins, one draw and two defeats. But after Saturday, Montana sit tenth and Lokomotiv fourteenth. The gap between them now feels wider than the seven points suggest.