In the last match of this year in Chorzów, played as the Derby of the Upper Silesian Land, the Blues crushed the Opole Odra at the beginning of the return round after a double by Bartomiej Barański and goals by Daniel Szczepan, Mateusz Szwoch, Jakub Myszor and Miłosz Kozak. Now we have two trips ahead of us: the cup one to Skierniewice and the round ending in Pruszków,
Before we started the last league match of 2024 in Chorzów, after the warm-up there was a nice ceremony when Filip Starzyński received from the hands of president Seweryn Siemianowski a commemorative shirt with the number 150, symbolizing the number of official appearances that “Figo” recorded in the first team with eRka on his chest.
Our team was led out onto the pitch as captain by Szymon Szymański, wearing an armband specially prepared for this match, which was christened the Upper Silesian Derby, while the yellow and blue colours were worn by, for example, the ball boys.
Ruch started with changes in the line-up, compared to the lost match in Warsaw on Sunday. Maciej Sadlok and Soma Novothny sat on the bench this time, and Jakub Myszor and Daniel Szczepan jumped into the starting eleven.
It was “Szczepek” who untied the bag of goals in the 54th second, closing down a cross by Miłosz Kozak with his head. For “Szczepek” it was the first goal since the cup match in Świdnik – and the first league goal since the trip to Płock. The Chorzów crowd, which had bought all the tickets for the western sectors (thank you!), had reasons to rejoice for the first, but not the last time that evening.
In the first half, this happened twice more: Bartłomiej Barański scored with his right foot from a first-time long-range shot after a well-constructed move by Kozak and the (as usual ubiquitous) Mo Mezghrani, who was positioned at left-back, and then, after an exchange of balls between Kozak and Martin Konczkowski and a tentative intervention by Adam Wójcik, Mateusz Szwoch increased the score from close range to 3:0.
“One goal, two goals, the third one is coming” – was the message from the stands of the Cauldron of Witches, and there could have been even more goals before the break, but let’s be fair: Odra also had opportunities.
One, just before losing for 2:0, excellent – when after a pass from Maksymilian Banaszewski, Tomas Przykril had an almost empty goal in front of him. Almost – because Andrej Lukić managed to intervene just before the line. We didn’t have to intervene earlier, but we could talk about luck when Artur Pikk hit the post, and the ball bounced off it and fell perfectly into the hands of Martin Turek.
Strong and brave, faithful to tradition, from the Silesian Land we go with the Movement – such a banner, quoting the “Blue Vendetta”, referring to the Derby of the Upper Silesian Land and the upcoming St. Barbara’s Day, greeted us after the break. Over 12 thousand spectators gathered at the Silesian Stadium, including 2,554 children under the age of 14, who had free admission to the stands thanks to a special promotion. Our Bajtle are the best in Poland!
And in the 64th minute they had more reasons to be happy – when “Bibi” Barański struck from outside the penalty area, completing a double and increasing the score to 4:0. And since it was 4:0, it was close to “boomba”, which the announcer Kuba Kurzela could have shouted a moment later, when Kozak’s cross was subtly finished by Jakub Myszor. But… Kuba didn’t make it, because in the 72nd minute the counter already had half a dozen – after a technical challenge by Kozak, who deserved that goal. And there were two bombs!
And our defenders also intended to show off – Lukić’s feat from the first half was copied by Konczkowski, who cleared the ball in front of the goal after a close-range attempt by Oskar Zawada. The guests had no reason to be happy, but in the 82nd minute their coach’s heart probably warmed a little.
Jarosław Skrobacz, who wrote a beautiful page in Chorzów with two promotions as a newcomer, forever etching himself into the history books of Ruch, was honoured by the stands, chanting his surname.
The year 2024 – the first full year of Ruch’s appearances at the Silesian Stadium – has come to an end in terms of home matches. We start the return round with 3 points and will remain in the top six of the table, and an intense next week is ahead of us. On Wednesday, we will fight in Skierniewice for the quarterfinals of the Polish Cup, and on Sunday in Pruszków we will compete for points for the last time in 2024. Then we will wait for spring, when we will play 10 out of 15 matches at the Silesian Stadium. It will be happening, it will be fun. And let’s hope it will be as good as this half-year, when we did not suffer a defeat in the Cauldron of Witches.