However, Slavia did not come close to Sparta with a win in the sold-out Malšovice arena. Her main rival dominated the duel in Olomouc 4:1, so the seamers only kept a four-point gap before the five-round superstructure.
“It is new information for me that Sparta won. We didn’t fixate on it. Unfortunately, it is not in our hands, but we still believe that if we manage all the matches in front of us, the title is definitely not lost and is still close. We have to concentrate on every next match so that the match like in Pilsen does not happen again,” Provod mentioned.
Slavist coach Jindřich Trpišovský spoke similarly about the championship prospects. “I’m only interested in the next match with Baník,” the red and white coach fired immediately. “I will want the team to work like in Hradec and not to have what happened in Pilsen. I want us to be at our best, to perform like we did here and fight for every meter of the pitch like we did here. For me, the most important thing is that we are as one team,” added Trpišovský, who celebrated his 192nd league win as a coach in Hradec, thus becoming independent ahead of Pavel Vrba at the head of the historical statistics of a separate league.
“We can’t look at who has how many points. We have to push ourselves to maximum performance. That’s all I care about. I have a good feeling about the individuals and the team and I only care that we play at the same level in the next game. We have to take it step by step like a tennis tournament. We’ve done one round and we’re on to the next. And we are fighting for survival in each,” said the Slavist strategist.
After the defeat in Pilsen and the draw with Olomouc, Slavia went through a more difficult period. “It was an inconvenience, but again we had a huge motivation to break it. I think it showed on us. We approached the match completely differently than, for example, in Pilsen. I don’t know at all why we approached that game so badly,” Provod reflected.
In Hradec, the seamers looked confident, Mojmír Chytil threw away a great chance in the 3rd minute. The procession won in the 41st minute with a precise shot from outside the box. Two minutes later, Ondřej Zmrzlý took advantage of Holeš’s pass.
“We won the first fights. I think we were at all the rebounds. It didn’t matter which player was there. I will mention, for example, Petr Ševčík, who is not exactly a dueling player and fought fantastically with it. That helped us a lot, and in the end it made the decision. These are the foundations on which we must build performance when we fail. It will be unpleasant to play with us,” said Provod.
However, Hradec did not give up and in the end Slavia was even more confused. First, Matěje Koubka was tapped out by the visitors’ goalkeeper Jindřich Staněk in the 82nd minute, Václav Pilař missed an open goal in a good position a minute later. The result was only corrected in the first minute by Karel Spáčil.
“The end of the game doesn’t work for us. We have to break it down. I guess we were a little scared too,” noted Provod.
Tags: Slavia fight title encouraged Provod
