For the match against Slovácko Pavel Vrba kept the starting line-up that run on the pitch at Santiago Bernabéu unchanged. Viktorians had a great opening of the match but their lead after first half was only 1-0 thanks to Milan Havel’s amazing goal. The visitors had some chances after the break but they were caught off side twice when scoring. Roman Procházka increased the gap from a penalty kick. Slovácko managed to get one back but nothing more.

13th round, Sun 28th Oct 2018, 15:00, Doosan Arena

Plzeň: Hruška – Řezník, Hejda (44. Pernica), Hubník (C), Limberský – Procházka, Hrošovský – Havel, Čermák (79. Řezníček), Petržela – Krmenčík (90. Chorý).

Slovácko: Trmal – Juroška, Hofmann, Krejčí, Reinberk – Daníček (C) – Navrátil (70. Kalabiška), Machalík (81. Hellebrand), Havlík, Rezek – Kuchta (46. Zajíc).

Goals: 36. Havel, 67. Procházka (pen.) – 69. Daníček, >YC: Rezek, Hofmann, Referees: Marek – Antoníček, Vitner.
Attendance: 7,235.

Viktorians opened the match very actively. Right in the 3rd minute Milan Petržela accepted a long crossed ball and fired it from inside the box but his attempt was stopped by the goalkeeper Trmal. After that Milan Havel rushed along the right side and sent the ball to Petržela again but he had to shoot from behind a defender and missed the target.

About 30 minutes into the game Krmenčík, who received a perfect long ball from David Limberský, tried to put it behind Trmal but thanks to a quick approach he managed to keep it away. Plzeň had quite a lot of corners at the beginning of the match and they took advantage of it. In 36th minute Milan Havel found a crossed ball on the edge of the box and he excellently volleyed it under the crossbar of Trmal’s goal.

In the 60th minute Jakub Rezek appeared in a huge chance but couldn't finish it properly and only won a corner for his team. The following crossing pass got extended straight to Reinberk waiting on far post. He pushed his header through Hruška but the referee whistled for an off-side so the score remained unchanged.

Not for long though. Right during the next Viktoria’s attack Krmenčík was fouled in the box and the main referee pointed towards the penalty spot. Roman Procházka took the responsibility and scored for 2-0.

However, the visitors carried on in their improved performance and created more goal opportunities soon. At first, Havlík failed in a clear scoring position but he won at least another corner and Slovácko managed to pull one down. Although Řezník got his head on the cross, he only sent the ball to Vlastimil Daníček who put it in alongside the right post.

The situation could be even worse because Tomáš Zajíc headed the ball behind goal line just moments later – fortunately for home side, he was caught off side as well. It was quickly followed by Havel’s great chance but he missed the goal completely. Zajíc had another clear chance right after that but he rushed his shot this time and missed as well. None of the teams had time to do more in this match so Plzeň won 2-1 over Slovácko.

Pavel Vrba’s Commentary

"It was a match of two halves. In the first one, if I exaggerate, it could be like three or four zero. In the second one if we had conceded four goals, we could have said nothing," Vrba said. "I don’t know how this was caused that we were so weak and inaccurate in the second half. Our opponent took advantage of it in their tackling and in the end, we were very busy to keep the victory on our side," he knew.