Slavia snatch victory over Plzeň in the 11th minute of stoppage time thanks to a retaken penalty

Prague's Slavia ground out a 2:1 win over Viktoria Plzeň in round 9 of the Czech football league, scoring the decisive goal from a penalty in the 11th minute of stoppage time. The match was played at Slavia's home ground in Eden in front of 18,556 spectators.

Despite the final result, the hosts struggled for much of the game. The first half ended goalless — Slavia attacked plenty but never carved out a truly dangerous chance against the visitors' tight defence. Plzeň's best opportunity of the opening period fell to Memić, whose close-range effort late in the half was tipped away by goalkeeper Marković with his fingertips.

Plzeň took the lead but couldn't hold on

After the break, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock: in the 64th minute, Grošovský won the ball, played Memić through on goal, and the Bosnian striker beat Marković with a precise finish into the far corner. It was his second league goal of the season.

However, Plzeň's advantage lasted only ten minutes. After a scrambled sequence and a header from substitute Provod, Chaloupek finished the job — the ball rolled off the post and over the line. It was the first goal since May for the national-team defender, who also helped his side to a 3:0 win over Plzeň in their previous meeting.

Drama in stoppage time

Slavia's defence looked notably shakier than usual on the night: in the 84th minute, the hosts were saved by a 45-centimetre offside call after a well-worked finish from substitute Laval.

The resolution came only in stoppage time. In the 7th minute of added time, referee Volek awarded a penalty after a VAR review, ruling that Doski had fouled Ayaosi inside the box. Former Plzeň forward Hory, who had previously converted all 19 of his Czech league penalties, saw his effort this time cannon off the post — and the rebound didn't find the net either. However, the video referee spotted that Doski had encroached into the box before the kick was taken, and the penalty was ordered to be retaken. In the 11th minute of stoppage time, last season's top scorer in the Czech league made no mistake with his second attempt.

At the other end of the pitch, Plzeň's Červ also appealed for a penalty, claiming an opponent had stepped on his foot inside the box, but the referee waved play on this time. Thanks to that stroke of luck, Slavia extended their remarkable record against Plzeň at Eden — the Prague club has lost just one of its last 52 league meetings there, and even that was a technical defeat from May's derby. For Plzeň, the result marked their seventh dropped points in nine rounds this season, leaving the club down in 10th place in the table.

Source: sport.cz