Hajduk received the key impetus for a positive trajectory in the season from the second leg of the Conference League play-off against Raków in Poland, where they won 3-2 and thus secured a place in Europe for the autumn. Head coach Gonzalo Garcia oversaw the team through a dense schedule, with Hajduk defeating Osijek 4-0 four days before the trip to Częstochowa.
In that match, Garcia started only goalkeeper Toni Silvić and midfielder Adrijan Pajazić, who was suspended for the trip to Poland. Osijek arrived in Split as the leader of the SuperSport HNL, having defeated Dinamo 4-2 in the previous round. After the match, Torcida and the players 'reconciled', ending a period of nearly a year of cold greetings following matches.
Garcia defended 22-year-old Silvić before the match with Osijek. 'Last season they urged me to play him, at the end of the season they said Dalić was an idiot for not taking him to the World Cup, and now they say he needs to be changed. He is one of the best goalkeepers in the league. He has our support, we will stand by him,' Garcia said at the time.
This was followed by four league matches in which Silvić did not concede a single goal. Hajduk defeated Osijek 4-0 and Lokomotiva 2-0 at Poljud, as well as Rudeš in Velika Gorica 4-0 and Slaven Belupo in Split 1-0, with a total goal difference of 11:0. In the last round of the Conference League, the team eliminated Raków.
Silvić had not conceded a goal in the league since 16 August, when Hajduk won 2-1 against Gorica with a goal from Marko Livaja in a dramatic finish. In the 78th minute, Bruno Bogojević was beaten by a penalty, but the referee did not award it. Since then, Silvić has not been beaten in the SuperSport HNL for exactly 372 minutes, without counting added time.
The record for Hajduk in the HNL is held by Lovro Kalinić, who in the autumn of 2015 did not concede a goal in league matches for 775 minutes. He was unbeaten in eight consecutive matches, in the first term of Damir Burić on the bench of the White team, and was unbeaten in two matches against the same club, from Lokomotiva to Lokomotiva. Kalinić, meanwhile, outperformed Zoran Slavić, who in the first season of the HNL 1992 did not concede a goal in 711 minutes in a row.
Hajduk will play a Croatian derby on Sunday, visiting Rijeka at Rujevica. After a three-week break in the league due to matches for the national team, on 10 October Dinamo will come to Poljud.
