Dominant win at the beginning

Karlovac, 19. round MAXtv Prva liga, 25.2.2012.

NK Karlovac - GNK Dinamo 0:3 (0:0)

Spectators: 3500

Referees: Zlatko Šimčić (Koprivnica), Borut Križarić (Čakovec), Goran Dević (Koprivnica), Domagoj Ljubičić (Osijek)

Karlovac: Kalinić - Konta, Rukavina, Ljubović, Anić - Krznarić (51. Turkalj), Babić, Šimek (67. Jelavić), Štefančić - Gerc, Jelić (60. Blažinčić)

Dinamo: Kelava - Vrsaljko (87. Calello), Tonel, Bišćan, Pivarić - Leko, Badelj - Alispahić (70. Vida), Kovačić, Sylvestr - Beqiraj (78. Krstanović)

Yellow cards: Jelić (12.), Babić (32.) / Sylvestr (85.)

Goals: 0:1 Tonel (47.), 0:2 Beqiraj (73.), 0:3 Krstanović (83.)

Dinamo opened second part of the season with a win! Despite total dominance throughout the entire game, Karlovac kept a clean sheet in the first half but simply couldn't handle the pressure and eventually conceded three times in the second 45 minutes.

Like coach Ante Čačić said, Dinamo started the game in Karlovac with no less than 6 players that didn't start the match in Pula. It was specially nice to see captain Igor Bišćan at centre back, along side him was Tonel and on the left back Josip Pivarić. In the midfield was Jerko Leko, in front of him Mehmed Alispahić and Fatos Beqiraj in attack.

Very bad pitch conditions in Karlovac influenced the game because it was very hard to create attacks. Despite that, Dinamo dominated the game from the beginning and most of the time the ball was around 30 metres from Karlovac goal. It took Dinamo more than 20 minutes to create first chance but Kalinić was concentrated on the goal. The same outcome was in the 22nd minute when Kovačić tried his shot.

Dinamo attacks mostly came from both flanks where on the right side Vrsaljko and on the left Pivarić made a lot of problems for Karlovac. Best chance in the first half came after a set piece situation, a corner kick was taken by Kovačić, Bišćan made a great jump but his header went over the goal. As the halftime approached - Dinamo pressed more and more. In the 39th minute we saw the best action when Badelj made a lot of work in the midfield before passing to Pivarić who's cross found Sylvestr but his attempt wasn't good enough.

All the effort Dinamo invested in the first half made sense after just a couple of minutes of play when came the first goal. Kovačić converted the corner kick, Tonel was the highest and the ball was behind Kalinić; fully deserved lead came in the 47th minute. Nothing changed after the lead and Dinamo searched for another goal. Kalinić managed to save couple of attempts from Kovačić and Beqiraj but in the 73rd minute - it was game over.

Badelj made another great run, found Vrsaljko whose shot was blocked but only to come to Beqiraj who placed the ball in the net. Coach Čačić made a couple of subs and one of them was Ivan Krstanović; scorer of the third goal. In the 83rd minute Kovačić made another great pass, Krstanović was alone in the box and he calmly scored the third goal.

Modri had couple of chances but there was no more goals. Dinamo dominated the game and fully deserved the victory in Karlovac which, because Hajduk - Istra ended a draw, helped Dinamo stretch the lead to eight points.