Straža footballers hosted league leaders Rudar (Mihovljan) at their own stadium in the ninth round of the First County Football League and won 2-1. With this, Straža 'dethroned' Rudar from the top of the table, and the match was attended by about 100 fans.
The match began with a chance for Straža in the second minute. Javorić broke through the visitors' left defensive line and delivered a sharp centre towards the penalty spot, but Tepuš cleared the ball for a corner. In the sixth minute, the visitors took the lead: Vidićek served Pavić excellently on the left side of the defence in the home team's penalty area, and Pavić received the ball and tucked it into the far corner. In the ninth minute, Presečki broke through and crossed the ball into Rudar's penalty area, after which the ball deflected to Neskić who shot, but Babić saved. Six minutes later, Vidićek and Strabić exchanged a one-two pass and bypassed the entire Straža defence, and Vidićek shot from an angle from about 10 metres, but Gajšek saved.
In the 19th minute, a free kick was awarded to Straža at a distance of about 20 metres from Babić's goal. Petrović set up the ball and took the shot, the ball wobbled and hit the ground right in front of Babić creating a 'hop' and ended up in the net right in the middle of the goal – the score was levelled at 1-1. In the 43rd minute, Javorić ran past his marker and crossed the ball into the penalty area, Neskić headed the ball down to the far post, and Čuček struck from just three – four metres from the net, but high over the goal. The teams went to half-time with the score 1-1.
In the second half, Rudar was more active and dangerous and had clear chances in the 58th minute through Pavić and in the 68th minute through Strabić. In the 72nd minute, a free kick was awarded to Straža right on the halfway line. Čuček took the ball, looked towards Babić and struck the ball powerfully in a high arc, and the ball ended up behind Babić 'kissing' the net. Straža thereby came to their second goal. Incidentally, in the first half, in the 24th minute, Čuček attempted to score from almost the same spot from open play, but the ball flew just over the crossbar. In the last 20 minutes or so, the visitors did everything to get at least a point, but they failed to convert their chances.
The match referee was Zdravko Fotivec, the assistant referees were Nikola Bedeniković (Krapinske Toplice) and Filip Burić (Pregrada), and the delegate was Stjepan Kos (Zabok). The scorers were: 0-1 Pavić (6), 1-1 Petrović (19), 2-1 Čuček (72). Straža played with the following lineup: Gajšek, Javorić (90+1 Kolar), Čuček, Drašković, Presečki, Prtenjak (88. Blažević), Gajšek, Neskić, Kampuš, Petrović, Konjić, and the coach was Ivica Antolić. Rudar (M) played with the following lineup: Babić, Varjačić (64. M. Pisk), Gredelj, Geč, Majsec (83. Kovačec), Pavić, Strabić, Vidićek, Tepuš, D. Pisk (46. Valjavec), Dačnik – Kovačić, and the coach was Robert Varjačić.
After this round, the top of the table was taken over by Klanjec with 22 points, who in this round beat INKOP 4-0. Rudar (M) is second with 21 points, third is Pregrada with 18 points, who were defeated in Konjščina 0-2, and fourth is Oroslavje with 16 points, who in this round beat Zagorec in Veliko Trgovišće 6-2. Straža settled into fifth place with 13 points, while INKOP is at the bottom with 2 points won. In the next round, on 31 October at 14:00, Straža hosts Oroslavje, and these two teams in a direct clash decide on the fourth place. In the other matches at the same time as Straža play: INKOP – Rudar (M), Zagorec (VT) – Pregrada, Sloga – Ivančica and Radoboj – Klanjec.
