Yugoslavia round-up: Hat-trick boosts Crvena Zvezda

FK Crvena Zvezda kept the pressure on city rivals FK Partizan with a 5-2 win on Saturday.

Jelic hat-trick
A Branko Jelic hat-trick was the highlight of a comfortable win for Crvena Zvezda against FK Sartid. The match, like the rest of today's fixtures, saw a minute's silence in memory of celebrated radio journalist Mijailo Kostic and former AFC Ajax star Velibor Vasovic, who both died in the last fortnight.

Half-time lead
Sartid took the lead 12 minutes into the first half when Milorad Zecevic was on hand to put the visitors in front. Milenko Acimovic then scored the first of two penalties after 25 minutes for Crvena Zvezda. His second followed six minutes later, and Jelic then made it 3-1 with his first goal of the afternoon after 34 minutes.

No joy for Sartid
Nenad Mirosavljevic pulled one back for the visitors after 52 minutes but four minutes later Jelic got his second before completing both the rout and his hat-trick with 20 minutes left.

Three goalless draws
FK Mladost Apatin and FK Rad played out a goalless draw in a match with few chances at either end while fourth-placed FK Vojvodina also failed to score away as they drew 0-0 at a much-improved FK Cukaricki. It was also goalless between FK Zeleznik and OFK Beograd with the wind playing havoc with both sides.

Obilic stumble at Plevlja
FK Zeta won 2-0 at home against FK Zvezdara thanks to two goals in the opening ten minutes by Bojan Brnovic, while FK Obilic's chances of catching the league's top two took a massive blow as they went down 1-0 away at lowly FK Rudar Plevlja. The only goal of the match was scored 15 minutes from time when Aleksandar Minic gave the home side the victory.

Vital win for Zemun
Meanwhile, FK Zemun claimed a vital 2-0 home win over FK Sutjeska, the team directly below them in the league. Dragan Mladenovic put the home side ahead after 26 minutes and nine minutes later Ilija Stolica scored what turned out to be the winning goal. In Saturday's other game, FK Hajduk Kula beat second-bottom FK Radnicki Kragujevac 1-0 thanks to a 66th-minute goal from Bojan Markovic.