Železničar beat Novi Pazar 2-0 in the 29th round of the Serbian Mozzart Bet Super League yesterday, securing the fourth spot in the table, and opening up their path towards European football next season. Simão Pedro and Sylvester Jasper punished a somewhat frenzied and impatient Novi Pazar defense, helping to break Nenad Lalatović’s six-game unbeaten run in the Serbian League.
Since the very start of the game, the team from Pančevo has shown why they deserve to play Europe. Unlike Novi Pazar, they built their attacks patiently, focusing on technicality instead of physicality. That enabled them to react calmly and find and exploit cracks in the visiting team’s defensive line.
Patience and slow-burning pressure finally paid off for Dizelka near the end of the first half. Jasper took a run for it down the left wing, surprising Novi Pazar players who then just started chasing him instead of spreading out evenly inside the penalty box. That created space for a lonely Pedro to receive a masterful pass from Jasper, some 10 meters away from the goal, and pierce the net with his right foot.
After the first goal, the home side only upped the pressure, completely taking charge of the possession and letting the cheers from the stands become the wind in their sails. Yusif, Jasper and, Prigić had a couple of on-target shots that would’ve made the first half complete hell for Lalatović’s side had it not been for Željko Samčović, the Novi Pazar goalkeeper. He is currently on loan from Mladost, but judging by the way he’s been playing recently, Novi Pazar will undoubtedly try to make him stay on for next season.
Lalatović decided to change his 5-3-2 experiment in the second half, opting for a more comfortable 4-3-3, a formation his players are used to. That didn’t quite help Novi Pazar either. Jasper stole the show once more, this time with a spectacular goal from over 20 meters away. This one has to be one of the top five goals in the Serbian league this season!
“You can have beer in the bus If you’d like, the Earth keeps turning.”
Despite losing 2-0 and potentially missing out on Europe next season, Nenad Lalatović seemed all jolly and content with his team’s performance in Pančevo. “Želja was simply a better team today,” he said. “I told my guys, you can have beer in the bus if you want, the Earth keeps turning, tomorrow is a new day!”
He also sang praise to Jasper, saying how he can play anywhere he’d like to and how he himself would love to have him in Novi Pazar.
The legendary Serbian manager then closed his press conference speech with a sentence you really don’t hear from European managers often: “I’d like for both us and Železničar to win our next fixtures so we can be next to each other on the table again!“
When asked about losing the UEFA play-off spot today, he said that “getting Europe would be like winning the lottery” and that it isn’t something the club is focusing on as of right now.
What’s next for these teams?
Novi Pazar will host Partizan at home, while Železničar Pančevo heads down south to Ivanjica to face off against Javor. As of right now, Novi Pazar is only one point away from Železničar on the table. Let’s see if Lalatović’s wish comes true.