Pavel Vrba could use the skipper Roman Hubník for the starting line-up against Liberec. Hořava as a midfielder replaced Procházka. This very equalized match was influenced by Hejda’s sending off about 60 minutes into the game. The hosts went in leading thanks to Pešek’s goal, nevertheless, at the end Jan Kovařík equalized the score after Petržela’s pass.

16th round, Fri 23rd Nov 2018, 18:00, Stadium “U Nisy“
Liberec: Nguyen – Koscelník, Kačaraba, Karafiát, Hybš – Breite (C), Oscar – Potočný, Ševčík, Pešek – Aarons (89. Pázler).
Plzeň: Hruška – Řezník, Hejda, Hubník (C), Limberský – Hořava, Hrošovský – Ekpai (83. Petržela), Čermák (65. Pernica), Kopic (60. Kovařík) – Chorý.
Goals: 71. Pešek – 84. Kovařík, YC: Karafiát, Oscar, Ševčík – Chorý, Řezník, RC: 64. Hejda, Referees: Orel – Blažej, Kubr.
Attendance: 4,555.

The first half offered quite an equal game. Liberec was the first one to indicate a chance on goal after counterattack but the danger was saved by Aleš Hruška. Another attempt by the home skipper Breite missed the target.

Viktorians threatened the goal about 20 minutes into the game when Ekpai crossed the ball to Tomáš Chorý. However, he also missed the goal when tackled by defender. Immediately after Viktoria’s mistake later on Aarons could shoot on goal from the edge of the box but waited too long and Hejda cleared the ball away from him. At the end of the first half Limberský appeared in a promising run into the box but his high pass to back upright found no recipient.

After the break the goalkeeper Hruška was very busy. First, his prompt reaction stopped Pešek’s rebounded shot, and later he hit Oscar’s long-distance attempt. The visitors’ biggest chance came after Aaron’s run through who got his own bouncing pass and from sharp angle he nearly opened the score, luckily for Plzeň the ball swung along the goal line only.

Lukáš Hejda saved Viktoria moment later when Liberec counterattacked again but his performance had a bad timing and with the help of VAR he was shown a red card. The hosts used their superiority in numbers right afterwards when Pešek got in front of Hruška and placed his shot between his legs.

Viktorians responed a few minutes later. Substituting Milan Petržela lost several denfeders out of the box and crossed the ball to Kovařík being inside who fired it behind the goalkeeper Nguyen.

Both teams took one point for a 1-1 tie.

Tomáš Chorý’s Commentary
“It’s always such a tough fight in Liberec. There was no space to do something with ball that was bouncing all the time, which was also difficult for our midfielders. We didn’t create many chances so we have to work on that,“ Chorý says clearly “Thank God for that one goal. After Hejda’s sent-off and the goal to 1-0 for them, we showed our character and managed to equalize for that one golden point,“ the striker is pleased.