head held high aka the last match of the season

Baník Ostrava v. Bohemians 1905 2:0 (1:0)

Everyone knew that. Out of this everyone, many still believed. Including me even though I tried not to.

Odds were against us. Baník Ostrava are quality side and they had something to play for - only a win could secure them UEFA Cup place. They are second best team at home (9-4-1 before the match), we are third worst team away (1-4-9). They had the support of sold-out Bazaly (attendance 17372) and last week they won vital match away at Letná against Sparta Praha. In Václav Svěrkoš they have the top league scorer (15 goals altogether and 8 in last 8 games) who has found his name on the nomination list for EURO 2008 on Wednesday. You get the point.

In spite of all this circa 500 fans travelled 395km to Ostrava on special trains and buses. I wouldnt be surprised to see TV report about a fan who jumped kangaroostyle all his way to the Steel heart of the republic (as the industrial city was called in the communist era) in protest against the inevitable relegation of Bohemka. All the papers were crying that Bohemka belongs to the Gambrinus Liga and how much the best fans deserve to stay up (our competitors, SK Kladno, have virtually no supporters). However, this doesnt count in the table.

I didnt go to Ostrava and instead wanted to see the match in Ďolíček, but the stadium was closed. So I moved to the nearby pub U Pepíčka where handful of old men and punks were supping beer and watching the match on TV. I must say I was shocked by our performance, I couldnt recognise the team that lost the infamous home match against Teplice a week ago. They didnt create any single decent chance last Saturday, whereas today, despite conceding an early unlucky goal, the team passed the ball in the manner we rarely got to see throughout the whole season. Otherwhiles harmless David Bartek was causing serious troubles on the right wing and created great chance for captain Slezák, who was in the starting eleven for the first time since end of March. Pacesetter Morávek was at his best creating chances as well as throwing them away, Rezek looked sharp and the defence... Well they didnt have much to do. The celebrated offensive power of Baník was invisible because it got absolutely no support from midfield. We had 54% possession and shots stats came 12:3 in our favour. However, representative for the whole season, we couldnt score.

Second half was more boring, Ostrava defenders approached our players more tightly and didnt let us do much offensively speaking. Our tactics also changed from fast moving on both wings to long balls up front for the ineffective forwards Ordoš and Škoda. We didnt create hardly any chances and conceded in injury timy, last nail in the first league coffin.

This sad afternoon had also a positive side - after 12 years our Vršovice neighbours and good friends Slavia Praha made the last step on their journey to the title. This all happened not even a mile away from Ďolíček, at their brand new hypermodern (it holds a bank and McDos inside, how amazing!) Eden stadium. Nice housewarming in front of the crowd of nearly 21000 I reckon.