BOSNIAN PREMIER LEAGUE 25th WEEK

 THE STRUGGLE IS NOT AT THE TOP ANYMORE, BUT IN THE BOTTOM

Sarajevo and Borac had a 1-1 draw in Banja Luka, which made it clear that the maroon whites are no more in the struggle for the championship. Sarajevo found the first goal by the young scorer Alen Melunovic in minute 11. However, the equalizer goal came at 66th minute by Admir Rascic.

The leader had an unsurprising 4-0 victory in Grbavica against Gradina Srebrenik who will not be in Premijer League next season.

The draw result with Sarajevo made Borac to lose the advantage against Olimpik Sarajevo with whom they are struggling for the third position to have the right to compete in UEFA Championship. Now they have the same point: 44.

However, a difficult match waits for Olimpik against Zeljo next week while Borac may lose points against Velez in Mostar as well.

If both will lose points, surely Çelik may gain some advantage and have a claim for the third place as well. They have defeated Zrinjski in away match this week and next week they will have an easy match against Radnik Bijeljina.

Since Gradina Srebrenik’s relegation is arithmetically proved, the second team who will relegate is the mention of interest. Currently GOŞK Gabela with 23 points is the one who is below the red line. Just above is NK Travnik with 24 points. GOŞK had an important one point in away match against Radnik Bijeljina and since Travnik had a home defeat against Velez Mostar the point difference between GOŞK and Travnik is reduced to “one”. Next week GOŞK will play against Şiroki Brijeg at home and it is not expected that Catholic fraternity will made the things worse for GOŞK where Şiroki Brijeg is focused more on Bosnian Cup. Travnik, on the other side must have points against Leotar who had a good start to season, but could not sustain.

ŞIROKİ BRIJEG THROUGH THE BOSNIAN CUP

The first leg of the Bosnian Cup final was played in April 30 in Grbavica. Şiroki Brijeg had an early goal at 5th but the railroaders found the equalizer goal at 19th. Since Zeljo could not manage to score any more goals, Şiroki Brijeg returned back to home with advantage before the second leg in Şiroki Brijeg at May 15th.

The results of the matches played in the Bosnian Premier League in the 25^th week are as follow:

Borac Banja Luka: 1 – FK Sarajevo: 1

FK Slavija: 3 – Rudar Prijedor: 1

NK Travnik: 0 – Velez Mostar: 0

HŞK Zrinjski: 0 – Çelik Zenica: 2

Zeljeznicar: 4 – Gradina Srebrenik: 0

Radnik Bijeljina: 1 – GOŞK Gabela: 1

Şiroki Brijeg: 1 – Leotar Trebinje: 1

Zvijezda Gradacac: 0 – Olimpik Sarajevo: 1

Standings of the teams by the end of 25th week:

(Source: www.rezultati.com)

Next Week’s Schedule (Week 26)

Velez – Borac

Çelik – Radnik

GOŞK – Şiroki Brijeg

Gradina – Slavija

Leotar – Travnik

Prijedor – Zrinjski

Sarajevo – Zvijezda

Olimpik - Zeljo

FK SLOBODA TUZLA

Sloboda had a magnificent performance in the second half of the season and became a candidate of the leadership, however had a surprising home defeat against Rudar Kakanj and lost the claims to be leader by not using the advantage while the leader Vitez and runner-up Radniçki had a 2-2 draw. Currently Sloboda (with one match played less) is 7 points below Vitez and 4 points below Radniçki and will play against Vitez next week, which will determine if Sloboda will continue to struggle or not.

FK NOVI PAZAR: TEAM FOR HARD TIMES

FK Novi Pazar continued the tradition this week as well. Pazar had a very important one point by not allowing the leader Partizan to score a single goal. However, there are still just 3 points difference between Novi Pazar and Radniçki 1923 who is just below the red line. Pazar has the same point with Donji Srem and just one point above Hajduk Kula and Borca.

Novi Pazar will have an away match against Sloboda Uzice this week. Borca will host Spartak Subotica who is not in danger of the red line, nor do they have a claim for upper ranks in the league. It is almost certain that Donji Srem will have three points from Smederovo. Hajduk Kula will play home match against Javor and if Javor will have a defeat, they will be closer to red line as well.

Standings of the teams in Serbian Prva Liga by the end of 25th week:

(Source: www. utakmica.rs)

(Photo: Oslobodjenje)