Sartid draw first blood

Ipswich Town FC 1-1 FK Sartid
FK Sartid played a classic UEFA Cup first-leg away tie to secure an impressive 1-1 first-round draw against Ipswich Town FC at Portman Road tonight, and crucially, scored an away goal to take back to Yugoslavia.

Mirosavljevic pounces
The opening minutes were a close affair. The home side had much of the possession but the visitors looked likely to be dangerous on the counterattack. On 12 minutes Darren Ambrose of Ipswich went close, narrowly missing from seven metres out, but it was the visitors who struck first after 31 minutes. Demir Ramovic slid the ball through to Nenad Mirosavljevic who shot into the roof of the net past Andy Marshall from close range.

Armstrong hits back
Ipswich started the second half the brighter and drew level from a free-kick on 55 minutes. Dejan Kekezovic received a yellow card for a mistimed challenge, allowing John McGreal to loft the ball into the box and into the path of Alun Armstrong who tucked it past Dragan Zilic to pull the home side level.

Goalmouth scramble
Ipswich hit the bar two minutes later in a goalmouth scramble and the goalkeeper was then forced into an excellent save from Armstrong before throwing himself bravely at the ball when it seemed Tommy Miller would score with a free header. In stoppage time Dejan Kekezovic was sent off for a second bookable offence but the Yugoslavian side held on for the draw.

Burley disappointed
“I am disappointed with the result - they had one shot on target in the game and scored,” Ipswich manager George Burley said. “We stepped the pace up in the second half and on another day we could have had two or three goals but we are still confident we can go through.”

Sartid joy
Mirosavljevic was delighted to have given the visiting side the edge in the tie. “I am very pleased with the goal because I am usually in the reserve team,” the Sartid scorer said. “I hope we can be even more successful in the second leg.”