An unsuccessful weekend for our sports teams

Most of our sports clubs will quickly forget this past sports weekend, as there is nothing good to remember about it.

In the 13 round of the Serbian League, Vojvodina group, Hajduk’s footballers lost 5:1 to Tekstilac away in Odžaci. Once again, Hajduk played without several regular starters, fielding a very young squad, yet managed to take the lead against hosts Tekstilac. Uroš Božović scored Hajduk’s opening goal. After taking the lead, young striker Vlaisavljević had a great chance to extend Hajduk’s advantage, but failed to take it. The stronger, more experienced Tekstilac then took control of the game and scored five goals to secure a convincing victory. Hajduk is currently fifteenth, second from bottom, in the standings with 10 points, and will host current runners-up Feniks from Stara Pazova at the Kula stadium in the next round.

All three teams from Kula Municipality competing in the Sombor District League hosted matches in the 13 round, but only Rusin savored victory. Rusin’s footballers hosted Budućnost from Gložan in Ruski Krstur and won 3:0. The visitors held on until the 54 minute, when Janko Kulić opened the scoring, after which Matej Sajanković scored twice late in the match to make the final score 3:0. After five consecutive wins, Lipar’s winning streak came to an end. At home, Lipar lost 3:1 to ŽAK from Sombor. The experienced Sombor side demonstrated their quality and deservedly won, while Bogdan Đukić scored Lipar’s goal from the penalty spot. Former first-division side Crvenka hosted league leaders Bratstvo from Prigrevica. The leaders justified their status as favorites, defeating Crvenka 5:0 on their home ground. After thirteen rounds, Rusin is sixth in the standings with 22 points, Lipar is twelfth with 16, and Crvenka is fourteenth with 9. In the next round, Rusin visits third-placed Polet in Karavukovo, Lipar will face Budućnost in Mladenovo, and Crvenka travels to Silbaš to take on Naša zvezda.

In the 12 round’s top-of-the-table clash in the Sombor Intermunicipal League First Division, Polet beat league leaders Hajduk from Stapar 4:0 in Sivac. Vukašinović and Romić scored two goals each for Polet. With this win, the team from Sivac helped our other representative in this division, Kula, take over the top spot. Kula took advantage of the opportunity, beating Dinamo from Bački Breg 3:1 at home and moving to the top of the standings. Gačević scored twice for Kula, while Nebojša Popović scored one goal. Our third representative, Mladost from Kruščić, lost 4:0 away to Graničar in Riđica. After twelve rounds, Kula leads the standings with 30 points, Polet is fifth with 23, and Mladost is tenth with 13 points. The next round features a municipal derby: Mladost and Polet from Sivac will meet in Kruščić, while league leaders Kula visit OFK Odžaci.

Hajduk’s futsal players visited Subotica in the seventh round of the Vojvodina Futsal League, where they lost 14:4 to league leaders Spartak. The team from Kula is currently fourth in the standings with 6 points, and will host Flying Bajmok from Bajmok in the next round.

Due to national team matches during the so-called EHF Week, there was less handball activity last weekend. Our Super B League teams Sivac 69 and Crvenka had a break, but the women’s teams were in action. In the seventh round of the First League championship, Krule beat Ravangrad from Sombor 33:29 in Sivac, with the halftime score 16:13. The Sivac handball players built a decisive lead in the closing stages of the first half. The score was 13:13 in the 28 minute, but before the break, Aljoša Bikić’s players scored three goals, which was also their lead after 30 minutes of play. In the second half, Krule managed to preserve that lead and claim its second victory. Aleksandra Jelenković was Krule’s top scorer with 13 goals, while her teammate Emilija Petrović was named player of the match after scoring 7 goals. Crvenka’s Laki was scheduled to host Temerin in this round, but because of renovation work at the Crvenka sports hall, the home-and-away venue was switched, and the match was played in Temerin. Temerin defeated Laki 38:19, and the winner was effectively decided at halftime, with Temerin leading 22:9. Anđela Zelјković and Ana Ćujić were Laki’s top scorers, with 4 goals each. After seven rounds, Krule is seventh in the standings with 5 points, while Laki is last with 2 points. In the next round, Krule visits Temerin, while Laki travels to Jabuka.

The past sports weekend was marked by the Republic of Serbia League, Northern Group basketball derby, in which two teams with perfect records of five wins each faced off in Kula: the home side, Hajduk, and Joker from Sombor. Joker were the favorites in the derby and lived up to that status, beating Hajduk 88:68, with the halftime score 52:34 in Joker’s favor. It seems that, in addition to the visitors’ undeniable quality, the derby was decided by Hajduk’s players taking the court with too much respect for their opponents and under psychological pressure. They missed even the easiest shots, which Joker—a team built for a higher division—knew how to exploit, scoring easy points to build a substantial lead that they comfortably maintained until the final whistle. Hajduk’s top scorers were Đurović with 18 points, Tešović with 16, and captain Škrbić with 15 points. With five wins and one defeat, Hajduk are second in the standings, and next round they travel to Nova Pazova.

Another unsuccessful weekend is behind us for volleyball in Kula. In the fourth round, Hajduk’s volleyball players visited West in Šid and lost 3:0. Although their coach, Milorad Lazić, had said before the match that his team would be looking for its first points in Šid, those expectations were not fulfilled. In addition to several players who had already been sidelined, they were also without Krajinović before leaving for Šid, so they faced the home team with only seven players. Given the circumstances, it is clear that they could not have done much more. Hajduk’s volleyball players gave their all. In the first two sets, they stayed close to the hosts, who won each by 25:23. But in the third set they simply ran out of energy, and West won it 25:9, for a final set score of 3:0. In the next round, Hajduk’s volleyball players, who have yet to earn a point, will host Proleter from Zrenjanin.

After Hajduk's volleyball team won in Sombor in the previous, third round of the Vojvodina League, it was expected that they would confirm that success in front of their home fans in the fourth-round match against Bečej. An unexpected defeat of 3:0 was recorded, although Hajduk's players had the lead in every set, by as many as 8 points in the first, yet lost it 25:21. Bečej won the second set 25:20 and the third 26:24. This defeat is certainly a major lesson for Hajduk's young volleyball players, and they can also look to the large number of counterattacks they failed to convert as a reason for the loss. With one win and three defeats, Hajduk's volleyball team will visit Win Volley in Subotica in the next round.

Hajduk’s bowlers visited Kljajićevo in the seventh round of the First Vojvodina League, where they lost to the hosts, Kljajićevo, 5:3 on points and 3302:3234 on pins. Hajduk’s points were scored by Branko Vuksan with 586 pins, Vladimir Trišić with 543, and Dušan Adžić with 514 pins. Hajduk’s bowlers are currently fourth in the standings with 8 points, and will host league leaders Kristal from Zrenjanin in Vrbas in the next round.

Đ. Bojanić