Lech and Legia end with stalemate

In this weekend’s hit of the Polish Ekstraklasa, Lech Poznan held Legia Warsaw to a goalless draw.

Lech Poznan, who reached the group stage of the UEFA Cup after a thrilling 4-3 defeat over Austria Wien last Thursday, hoped to move into first position of the Ekstraklasa. But it wasn’t the day of Franciszek Smuda’s team, while Legia were the attacking side for the most of the game. The visiting side won the battle in midfield. Lech’s starlets Semir Stilic and Robert Lewandowski seemed to be tired after Thursday’s 120 minutes. The best chances for Legia were missed by Takesure Chinyama and Maciej Rybus.

Polonia Warsaw are again at the top of the table after a 2-0 win over Odra Wodzislaw. Both goals were scored by Macedonian Filip Ivanovski in the 39th and 72nd minutes.

Bottom-placed Gornik Zabrze earned their first point in 9 years against Wisla Krakow. This is also the first league point under Henryk Kasperczak, who won two championships with Wisla. In the first half the visitors had several chances but failed to score. In the 54th minute the home side opened the score thanks to a Pitry goal. Wisla eqalised in the final minutes.

Then the derby match between Arka Gdynia and Lechia Gdansk. The teams spent a total of 25 years in the top league, but it was their first meeting in the Ekstraklasa. After Pawel Buzala made use of Arka’s defenders’ misunderstanding, Lechia surprisingly won by the nearest margin.

Struggling Cracovia were defeated at home by belittled Polonia Bytom. Coach Stefan Majewski was jeered off by the Cracovia fans, but has strong support of the club owner.

Belchatow and Piast won their home matches against Ruch and LKS respectively, while Jagiellonia Bialystok and Slask Wroclaw scored 2 goals each and ended with a draw.

Polonia Warsaw, Legia Warsaw and Wisla Krakow lead the table, even on points. Lech Poznan are fourth one point behind.