F.Y.R. Macedonia round-up: Belasica two points ahead

FK Belasica GC preserved their narrow two-point lead at the top of the Macedonian First League with a 1-0 home win against FK Napredok.

Decisive own goal
The only goal of the match in Strumica arrived after 57 minutes when Boris Angelovski scored against his own team to give Belasica an important three points.

Derby success
Second-placed FK Vardar kept up the pressure at the top with a more comfortable 4-0 home win against local rivals FK Rabotnicki. The game was effectively decided in five first-half minutes, as Dimitar Spasovski opened the scoring after 38 minutes, before Srdjan Zaharievski doubled the advantage from the penalty spot two minutes later and Dejan Ristovski scored a third two minutes before half-time. The win was completed by Dragan Načevski's fourth goal after 72 minutes.

Pobeda go third
FK Pobeda moved above FK Sileks into third position with a 2-0 home win. Toni Meglenski gave Pobeda the lead with a 28th-minute penalty, although it took until the final minute for the home side to finally see off Sileks' challenge as Dragan Dimitrovski scored the second.

Unexpected boost
Elsewhere, FK Pelister's relegation struggle received a boost with a surprise 2-1 win at FK Tikves. First-half strikes from Brazilian Aurelio Pinto and Sašo Gjorevski gave Pelister a two-goal cushion, and Blagoj Dimov’s late goal was not enough for Tikves to take anything from the match.

Exciting game
Fellow strugglers FK Cementarnica 55 were defeated 4-2 at home by FK Sloga, despite taking the lead after ten minutes through Brazilian Vandair. However, two goals at the ended of the first half, from  Zekirija Ramadan and Goran Stankovski, turned the match in Sloga's favour, and further strikes from Ljubiša Savić and Goran Jovanovski meant Riste Naumov's late goal for Cementarnica was little consolation.

Strugglers meet
The match between the two bottom sides saw FK Bregalnica Delcevo earn a 3-2 win at home to FK Kumanovo. Goals from Goran Karadzov from the penalty spot, Boris Janev and Dime Angelovski gave the home side a comfortable 3-0 lead, although Kumanovo set up a tense finish to the game with two goals in the last eleven minutes from Blagoj Todorovski and Igor Neskovski, but were unable to find an equaliser.