For the first match of the new season an almost unheard-of number of players turned up by our standards — though, sadly and just as traditionally, with next to no pre-season behind us. And from the opening whistle, after a minute's silence in memory of the late former Sokol chairman Leoš Pikula, that is exactly how we looked. Most of the lads still had their heads somewhere on holiday, so we were second to most balls, couldn't string a decent pass together, and before long nerves and finger-pointing were winning out in our ranks. Nobody watching was surprised when, after a run of individual errors, we were a goal down in the thirteenth minute, with one threat after another still heading our way.
Over time, though, the game slowly evened out and we created a few chances of our own, if nothing clear-cut. The first real one went straight in: a nicely worked free kick saw Palo find David on the run, and David's drilled pass found substitute Suren — and suddenly the mood lifted. The visitors got very jittery after conceding, and Karel could almost have added to our tally right before the break, only to hit the far post.
The second half carried on fairly evenly, just with the odd spark flying needlessly — which never does football any favours. In the 52nd minute, after a quick attack down our right, a superb pass from Míra Líška found Suren running in alone, and the Slovak–Israeli combination ended in the back of the net to the delight of most of the crowd and the home players.
The visitors then tried to up the tempo, and the game at times descended into ugly arguments, culminating in a second yellow for Štěpán and his involuntary early bath in the 72nd minute. From then on it was just a fight to hold on to the result, which after a real battle we managed — so at the first attempt the precious points against a strong opponent stay at home.