Off to Canada

I will be in Canada for a month, so probably no updates.  I hope to get to a game or two in Canada, but it seems rather unlikely.

June 23, 2013 - Nové Sady 9 Haná Prostějov 3

June 23, 2013
1 A třída - 6th tier
Nové Sady 9 Haná Prostějov 3
Attendance - 115

This was never going to end well.  Haná were missing a number of players, and they are not the type of team which has a deep bench.  Nové Sady had only lost one game going into the final match of the season, and they were celebrating promotion as well.  They are basically the 3rd team in Olomouc and have quite a few players who played youth football at Sigma Olomouc.  Nové Sady were clearly on a different level than Haná, and it showed.

The good news is that despite some financial problems, Haná Prostějov will be back in the 6th tier, as they avoided relegation.

June 8, 2013 - Kojetín 3 Haná Prostějov 2

Old style gate

30 minutes before the game

What is left of the old terraces

June 8, 2013
Olomoucký Kraj - 1 A třida - 6th tier
Kojetín 3 Haná Prostějov 2
Attendance - 100

Kojetín is a town of 6200 people located about 20km south of Prostějov.  I had been to watch Haná play in Kojetín 4 years ago when both sides were in the 7th tier.  Haná needed at least a point at the bottom of the table, while Kojetín needed a win to try to keep their promotion hopes alive.

Getting to Kojetín is not a problem on weekends, as the town has many train connections running to Přerov, Nezamyslice, Výškov, Brno etc.  The walk from the train station to the football ground takes about 25 minutes, and it is best to print out a map, or ask a local for help.  It can be tricky to find if you do not know where you are going.

The ground was built in 1953, and was apparently at the time the envy of all the surrounding football clubs.  Around the same time, the club was playing in the 3rd tier of football in Czechoslovakia, and would regularly get crowds of 2,000-3,000.  Obviously, the main stand doesn't have the capacity, but it is obvious that terraces once surrounded the pitch.

No one really expected Haná to get anything from the game, but they almost proved everyone wrong.  In the 89th minute, they scored the tying goal and it looked like they might have stolen a point.  Unfortunately, one minute later, Libor Bosák scored from a penalty.  He is now 36 years old, but he has 1st division and 2nd division experience, and this was clear.  He ran circles around the Haná players.

One minute away from a shock draw, Haná had to make the short drive home with no points.