Raków Częstochowa found a way to turn a difficult season into a much-needed league win, beating Pogoń Szczecin 3:1 in the 13. kolejka PKO BP Ekstraklasy after the visitors finished the match with nine players and no goalkeeper. It was a result shaped by discipline, pressure and a remarkable late twist, but the key point is simple: Raków needed points badly and found them.
The context before kick-off made the game even more significant. After 12 league games, Raków had only six points and sat bottom of the table. Before the match began, Radomiak Radom had also won, stretching the gap between Raków and safety to five points. Against a fourth-placed Pogoń side, this was not just another fixture. It was a match Raków had to compete in with urgency.
Raking Of Raków Częstochowa Vs Pogoń Szczecin: early setback, then control
Pogoń made the sharper start. In the 5th minute, Churlinov put the visitors ahead and gave Raków an immediate reminder of how steep the task was.
But Raków stayed in the game, and the turning point came before half-time. In the 40th minute, Szymon Marciniak awarded Raków a penalty. Fadiga stepped up, but he missed it, leaving the home side frustrated at the break despite having created a route back into the contest.
That frustration did not last long. Just after the restart, Makuch equalised in the 46th minute, and that goal changed the mood completely. Raków suddenly had momentum, while Pogoń were forced to defend a result that was slipping away from them.
Marciniak's decisions and the late collapse
The decisive phase arrived in the second half. In the 73rd minute, Racovitan headed in Raków's second goal, putting the home side in front for the first time. From there, Pogoń's afternoon became increasingly chaotic.
In the 90th minute, Willen received a second yellow card and was sent off. Then, in added time, Cojocaru was also dismissed, leaving Pogoń with nine men. With no goalkeeper available, Keramitsis had to go in goal to finish the match.
It was an ending that underlined just how far the game had drifted away from Pogoń. For Raków, though, the most important detail was that they kept their composure and saw the match through. In a season where they had started so poorly, this was the kind of victory that can matter well beyond the final scoreline.
Raków's next challenge is to make sure this is not treated as a one-off. A win over a top-four side gives them something to build on, but the bigger test is whether they can turn this into a genuine run of results rather than a single release from pressure.
