Sparta football players won in the 26th round of the first league on the field of the last Pardubice 2:0. The people of Prague took advantage of Slavia’s 1:1 draw in Mladá Boleslav today and moved to the top of the table by two points ahead of their city rival, whom they will challenge at home in the derby next Saturday.
The wards of Danish coach Brian Priske won the top competition for the ninth time in a row. On the contrary, the East Bohemians lost the third of the last four rounds and, due to the worse score, remained behind Zlín in 16th place, which is the only one that means direct relegation.
The favorite of the match decided on the triumph already in the opening act, when Jan Kuchta and Ladislav Krejčí Jr. Sparta was the only one in the league to remain unbeaten in the spring, and since the 0:4 league debacle at Slavia in October, they have not found a winner in 16 competitive duels. On Wednesday, after a 2-0 victory over České Budějovice, they advanced to the final of the domestic cup, in which they will face Slavia on May 3.
In the Pardubice goal, Nita could not start due to a loan from Sparta, who was replaced by Budinský. In the sixth minute, visiting midfielder Wiesner passed to Haraslín and the Slovakian representative fired wide from the penalty area. The Spartan winger did not succeed even a moment later, his shot was stopped by Budinský. In the 17th minute, Prague’s stopper Sörensen got to the rebounded ball, but headed it into the crossbar.
In three minutes, the already active Sparta got the desired goal. Wiesner exchanged the ball with Haraslín and the cross in front of the goal found Kucht with his head. The Czech international scored his 11th goal of the season in the top flight and scored in the fourth of the last five rounds.
In the 27th minute, East Bohemia’s best league scorer this year, Janošek, shot from a distance and goalkeeper Kovář took the ball to the corner. After that, Sparta made itself known again. Krejčí intervened in Laci’s shot from the edge of the box, but he did not beat Budinski from close range. In the 37th minute, however, he pounced on Kairinen’s corner and made it 2-0 with a bouncy header against the post. Sparta’s captain scored his eighth hit in the league season.
Less than five minutes after the break, Čvančar headed in Wiesner’s shot for Budinski, but the goal was disallowed due to offside. After almost an hour of play, Haraslín headed just wide. In the 62nd minute, Krobot beat Kováře, but even the home team’s goal was disallowed due to offside. 10 minutes later, the Spartan goalkeeper stopped Krobot’s shot from the penalty area. In front of a sold-out stadium (4620 spectators), Pardubice confirmed that with 23 goals they have the worst attack in the league. On the other side, substitute Mabil did not succeed in the end, and neither did Kuchta in the setup, whose lob attempt failed.
Letenští won away from home in the league for the fifth time in a row, and with 30 points they are the best team in the competition there. They did not lose to Pardubice even in their sixth league match against each other and beat them for the fifth time. The team coached by Radoslav Kováč, who played for Sparta and later worked as an assistant there, did not score at home in the league after three matches.
Round 26 of the First Football League:
FK Pardubice – Sparta Prague 0:2 (0:2)
Goals: 20. Kuchta, 37. Ladislav Krejčí II. Referee: D. Černý – Nádvorník, Machač – Petřík (video). ŽK: Kairinen, Ladislav Krejčí II (both Sparta). Audience: 4620 (sold out).
Pardubice: Budinský – Icha, Vlček, Hranáč, Chlumecký – Vacek – Darmovzal (74. Sychra), Hlavatý (89. Rosa), Janošek (73. Šimek), Helešic (56. Kostka) – Krobot (74. P. Černý) . Coach: Kovac.
Sparta: Kovář – Vitík, Sörensen, Ladislav Krejčí II – Wiesner (75. Daněk), Laci, Kairinen (74. Pavelka), Zelený (61. Höjer) – Čvančara (61. Karabec), Kuchta, Haraslín (74. Mabil) . Coach: Priske.
