Saturday evening offered a battle between two fourteen-point teams in the tenth round of the Fortuna League. Neither Sparta nor Hradec Králové tasted victory in the highest Czech football competition during September. Letenští had a series of five draws in a row, at least the East Bohemians could have improved their mood ten days ago at the Čáslavi field. Miroslav Koubek’s men took full advantage of this, as they inflicted an eleven-goal debacle on their division rival in the MOL Cup.
Hradec Králové players were the first to get a great chance. Moments after the Spartans’ goalkeeper Matěj Kovář hesitated due to the visiting attack during the play-off, he had to make a difficult save against Filip Kubala’s finish in the 7th minute. Moments later, Krejčí headed just past the left post on the other side.
The captain of the home team scored the opening goal of the game in the 13th minute. He lost the ball in his own half and the guests were penalized from the following counterattack. Kubala received a pass from Daniel Vašulín into the box and beat the young goalkeeper, visiting from Manchester United, with a shot to the right post.
Kovář had to deal with another dangerous situation in the 25th minute. After a quick combination, Smrž appeared in front of him, whose ground attempt was kicked out by the gloved man with his right foot.
After conceding a goal, Sparta went to ten
A significant complication in the pursuit of an equalizer came for Sparta just before half an hour of the game was completed. Tomáš Čvančara originally received a yellow card for his foul, during which he hit an opponent’s face with his elbow. After consultation with VAR, however, the head referee Nehasil finally showed the striker a red card.
The 35th minute brought a great opportunity to score for Vašulín, who, however, missed the goal of Pražany from close range. A few tens of seconds later, Højer tried it inaccurately from the volley. Towards the end of the half, coach Brian Priske’s team created several interesting chances, which, however, remained unused.
Seven minutes after the break, during which coach Koubek sent Rybička Kučera on the pitch, the Leten team equalized at 1:1. Asger Sørensen found a dotted cross from the corner and headed the ball into the net.
The home joy didn’t have to last long, but after a mistake by Zelený, Kubala only shot the far post. Lukáš Sadílek also enriched the busy beginning of the half with his shot, but Hradec Králové’s goalkeeper Michal Reichl caught him.
The home side turned the game around, the guests lost one player
In the 57th minute, Højer sent his direct free kick into the area where Jan Kuchta was, whose header ended up in the goal. Sparta’s leading goal was upheld by VAR, which investigated a possible offside position.
A quarter of an hour later, the balance of power on the playing field was evened out, as Vojtěch Smrž received a red card for his illegal tackle on Daňko. Miroslav Koubek got the yellow card for protesting from the bench.
The 10,000-strong crowd at Letná did not see another goal, although both teams had their chances in the rest of the game. Thanks to a 2:1 win, Sparta could celebrate the first three-point win in almost a month and a half and at the same time move to third place in the first league table. The intruders remain seventh.
Source: Fortuna liga, O2TV Sport
