OVERTIME VICTORY – Minaur Baia Mare defeated the Olimpia supporters’ team in Satu Mare

FOOTBALL – PLAY-OUT LEAGUE III-A. Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at the Someșul Stadium in Satu Mare, in the match counting for the 7th stage of the play-out of the III League, the 10th Series in football, SC Olimpia MCMXXI Satu Mare lost, with 0 -1 (0-0), match with CS Minaur Baia Mare. The match, refereed at the center by Vladimir Andrei Nagy from Măhăceni (Alba county), opposed the teams ranked before the round in places 9 (Satu Mare) and 7 (Baia Mare).

The Derby of the North, as the locals call it, has reached the deplorable stage of the fight for salvation from relegation to the county division (IV League), with the visitors managing more quickly to recover from the catastrophic situation in the regular season and temporarily leave the zone hot. A hot zone that in the 10th Series has only one relegation to determine, after Minerul Ocna Dej gave up the championship and, implicitly, is one of the two teams relegated to the IV League.

Olimpia, the team of supporters from Satmăra, is also trying to make a comeback, achieving a victory in the previous stage, also with 2-0, with the other team engaged in the fight to stay in the III League, Sănătatea Cluj. Baimăreni are the only undefeated team in the play-out (4 wins and 2 draws), after they changed an entire team during the competitive break (12 transfers, a financial effort for the club supported mainly from the city budget).

Beautiful weather, good pitch (even very good for the standards of the IIIrd League), about 700 spectators in Satu Mare. Coach Ciprian Danciu (Minaur) started the match with the following 11: Breban – Mureșan, Lazăr, Simion (capt.), Csiszer – Matei, Vitan, Stănescu, Ștefănescu – Cândea, Batin. Exactly the same starting team as in the last stage, won by the people of Baile at home, 2-0 (with Lotus Băile Felix).

The people from Baimăre, a bit more experienced than the young team from Satmăre (with an average age of 22.7 years), managed to close all the gates of the home team’s attackers and maintain the result from the beginning of the game after the first 45 minutes: 0-0.

And the second half is played at a slower pace, perhaps also because Cluj Health is standing (it had to play with the retired Minerul Ocna Dej) and a draw pleased both teams, Cluj going down to the other relegating place, maybe also because it started to rain, it is certain that in min. 58, Danciu tries a revival through a double change, Serediuc and Orosz instead of Ștefănescu and Cândea. Bogdan Pop enters in the end instead of Raphael Stănescu, but the match goes into extra time and is headed for a fair draw.

… and when no one expected it anymore and when everyone was wondering Danciu’s motivation to keep the veteran Paul Batin on the field, the top scorer of the Baimăran scored the winning goal in the min. 90+2, bringing another 3 points to the visitors who are very close to escaping relegation too mathematically. Incomprehensible FRF blunder that shortly after the end of the match resulted in a score of 2-0 for Olimpia and the ranking drawn up following this result.

* SC Olimpia MCMXXI Satu Mare – CS Minaur Baia Mare: 0-1 (0-0)Paul Batin scored (min. 90+2)

Following the victory, Minaur remains in 7th place (3rd place in the play-out), with 31 points – Lotus Băile Felix has 32 points (at this stage it ended in a tie, 2-2, away from Victoria Carei, which has 33 points). In the next, 8th, penultimate stage, Minaur plays in Baia Mare, Friday, May 10, against Victoria Carei (5th place – first in the play-out).

Andrei TUDORAN