Lokomotiv Sofia defeated Heber 2:0 as a guest in Pazardzhik in a match of the 31st round of our elite football championship at the debut of its new head coach Krasimir Balakov.
After two consecutive losses, Lokomotiv added 3 points to its asset and collected 33 in 12th place in the provisional standings, 2 points behind 11th Beroe. The success was the sixth as a guest and the ninth in total for the people of Sofia. Heber’s team, led by Luboslav Penev, suffered a third defeat in a row and occupies the 14th position with 30 points.
With the success of Lokomotiv over Heber, Eter’s team from Veliko Tarnovo, which is last, 16th in the standings with 14 points, no longer has a chance to keep its place in the Bulgarian football elite.
Steve Traore scored the two goals for the visitors from Sofia in the 10th and 80th minutes.
In the seventh minute of the meeting in Pazardzhik, Traore crossed into Heber’s penalty area, after which Diogo Teixeira sent a header, but sent the ball to the left of the home team’s goal.
Lokomotiv Sofia took the lead three minutes later. Steve Traore was found by a long pass from Krasimir Mechev in the 10th minute and converted for 1:0 in favor of the people of Sofia. A little later, Carlos France could have increased the visitors’ lead, but he was unable to overcome Heber’s guard Petar Deberliev.
In the 31st minute, the home team seriously threatened Lokomotiv’s goal after a shot by Georgi Valchev, but Alexander Lyubenov managed it. The hosts had claims for a penalty a minute later after Oleksiy Zbun fell in the penalty area of Lokomotiv Sofia, but a signal from the referee Radoslav Gidzhenov did not follow.
Steve Traore missed a second goal of the game in the 52nd minute in another attack for the capital city, and then Lazar Marin was off target for Heber. In the 61st minute, Traore went down in the home team’s penalty area after a collision with Atanas Kabov and received a yellow card for simulation.
Steve Traore still got a second goal for Lokomotiv. In the 80th minute, the visitors’ striker controlled the ball and fired from the edge of the penalty area to make it 2-0 after the ball bounced off the head of Joao Cesko and the players in front of goalkeeper Petar Deberliev prevented him from reacting accurately.
In the next round, Heber’s team will face Botev Vratsa, and Lokomotiv Sofia – Eter Veliko Tarnovo. Before that, on May 2, Heber will host Ludogorets in a rematch of the semi-finals for the Bulgarian Cup.
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