“I thought it was offside. But apparently I ran out of my own half when the goal was worth,” Mašek was pleased, whose first league goal was confirmed by VAR only. “I’m very happy, because I was worried that I still didn’t want it to fall there. It’s just a shame that the first he wasn’t victorious,” said the footballer, who was born six days after Baník secured his last championship title with a win in Olomouc on May 2, 2004.
At the time, 21-year-old Jan Laštůvka stood in Baník’s goal. “He is a quality goalkeeper with huge experience. By running alone from the halfway point, I had plenty of time to think about how I would finish. But as I approached the goal, Laštůvka suddenly seemed to me to be huge and I didn’t know where to pass the ball. Fortunately, there was a crack near the stick, so I sent it there,” Mašek described with a smile.
Photo: Petr Sznapka, CTK
Michal Frydrych from Ostrava overcomes goalkeeper Jan Šeda from Boleslav.Photo: Petr SznapkaCTK
Apart from the reducing shot and the blow by the captain of Mladá Boleslav Ondřej Karafiát in the 40th minute of the first half, all the guests’ chances ended on the gloves of the veteran Laštůvka. “If we had scored a goal, we could have taken Baník’s energy away, but Laštůvka is constantly bothering me here. He should have stopped a long time ago, but he always turns me off by continuing,” joked visiting coach Pavel Hoftych. “But I wish him to keep catching and last another year, because he is a great goalkeeper just like our Šeda,” continued Hoftych and he praised his team’s goalkeeper Jan Šeda despite the three conceded goals.
“He caught several more chances for Baník. It was a game to be enjoyed, however we made some punishing mistakes which the home side were able to punish. The home team beat us from set pieces, in which we had a hard time, but we should have dealt with it. When Baník scored the third goal, the field was suddenly full of them, but until then we had our chances, at the end of which stood the great Laštůvka,” described Hoftych.
