After a short break we’re back with Cracovia Week Review. A lot happened during the last 20 days. Pasy were defeated by Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski in the Polish Cup semi-final, but also beat at home the league’s leader GKS Bełchatów and Górnik Zabrze. This was the first victory in Cracovia’s history over the club from Zabrze!

On April 7^th Pasy went to Grodzisk Wielkopolski to begin the “Dyskobolia” trilogy. Before the two legs of the Cup’s semi-final the teams met in a dull goalless league game. Just four days later Cracovia again visited Grodzisk to play the semifinal’s first leg. Again, the game was rather a poor show, with just a few shots on goal. In 21^st minute our defenders failed to clear the ball from the area after a free-kick from the left and in consequence Chinyama scored from short distance. In the second half Cracovia tried to attack more openly, which resulted in some dangerous Dyskobolia’s counter attacks, such as the one from 72^nd minute when Sikora had a perfect one-on-one situation, but Cabaj superbly saved the day. Finally Pasy had some chances, but Pyrowski saved shots by Skrzyński and Giza. After the 1-0 home win Dyskobolia was the favorite before the second leg in Kraków.

On April 15^th the league’s unexpected but deserved leader GKS Bełchatów came to Kałuży. Bełchatów is playing fine offensive football, but on that day Cracovia played carefully, bravely and effectively. In 22^nd minute Skrzyński centered the ball from the free kick and found Wiśniewski unmarked in the area, who scored with a powerful header. GKS managed to equalize when Bougski made use of the defenders and goalkeeper errors and scored with a smart shot after a swift counter attack. But just seven minutes into the second half Cracovia again put their nose in front, as Nowak scored after Bojarski’s fine pass from the right. This proved to be the winning goal, as Pasy rather coolly controlled the game. This was a surprising but fully deserved win.

Unfortunately, Cracovia seems to be unable to play two good games in a row, or to keep constant high form. Three days after the fine win over the leader Pasy lost away to Łódzki KS in a horrible style. ŁKS’ offensive players easily ripped Cracovia’s defense, which resulted in many chances, two of them proved fatal for Pasy. After just 18 minutes Cracovia was two goals behind: in 8^th minute Arifovic scored with a header and ten minutes later Kizys doubled their lead after a great individual run. The first half was dominated by ŁKS. In the second half Pasy tried to scored and managed to do that, but only once. In 75^th minute Bania scored after Giza’s good cross. It was an easy finish for Bania, as the defenders stood still and groundlessly claimed offside. Later Cracovia was unable to equalize and the game ended with a deserved win for ŁKS.

After the poor performance in Łódź came a very good game against Górnik Zabrze. Górnik is the genuine nightmare for Pasy – until Saturday, April 21^st Zabrze had won 17 out of 21 games, the other four were draws. But Cracovia finally managed to win and slightly improve this horrible record. However, it was Zabrze who had the first good chance after Wiśniewski’s error, but Jarka’s shot missed the goal. And then Cracovia crushed Górnik within just eight minutes. First Wiśniewski headed the ball after Giza’s corner kick and Nowak scored with an overhead kick. In 25^th minute Pasy showed a perfect counter attack: Szwajdych intercepted the ball in our penalty area after Górnik’s poor corner kick and passed it to Bania, who looked around and found Moskała with a perfect 40-meter diagonal pass. Moskała run into the penalty area, dribbled past the defender and scored with a powerful drive into the top-left corner of the goal. Magnificent goal! Two minutes later Nowak doubled his tally, again after Giza’s corner kick and Wiśniewski’s header. The game was practically over. In the second half Cracovia kept on attacking, but lacked precision. There was an obvious handball in Górnik’s penalty area, but the referee was the only person not to see that. Some six minutes before the final whistle Górnik scored a consolation goal, as Madejski dribbled in the area down to the by-line and passed it to Jarka who scored from five meters. This did not spoil the mood after the fine and historic victory.

But again, after a good performance came a poor one – badly in the most important game of the month. On April, 24 Dyskobolia came to Kałuży to play the semifinal’s second leg. Pasy seemed somehow paralyzed and failed to create many chances, while Grodzisk had many, mainly after Cracovia defenders’ fatal errors. But thanks to Cabaj the result remained goalless at the half time. In the second half Pasy played more offensively, with more courage, but still lacked skills to score a single goal. And in 90^th minute Dyskobolia scored, when Skrzyński’s error allowed Sikora to run into the penalty area and pass the ball to Goliński who scored with ease. That shattered our hopes and dreams of the Cup final…

For the detailed line-ups check out http://en.wikipasy.pl/KS_Cracovia_online_encyclopedia