Rudes won at Osijek with a third of the ball and one late goal

Osijek had two-thirds of the ball at home and still lost 0-1, with Rudes settling it in the 81st minute.

Osijek had 67% of the ball at home and still lost 0-1 to Rudes. Their best moment came in the 40th minute, when a goal by Ivan Dolček was ruled out after a VAR review, and the home side never found a way back to the scoreboard from there.

That possession figure is well above what Osijek usually manage at home, where their season average is 54.2%. Rudes, by contrast, had 33% of the ball on their travels, below their usual 39.7%, so the match was played mostly in the visitors' half of the pitch without that being the same as controlling it.

The chances tell a different story from the ball. Osijek's expected goals (xG, a rough measure of how good a side's chances were, where a figure near 1 means a fair chance of a goal) came to 0.62, well below their home average of 1.46 and the league's average of 1.22. Rudes reached 1.87, far above their own away average of 0.73, so the visitors created the better openings even with less of the ball.

Cherno Saho scored the only goal in the 81st minute, and he took two shots, one of which was on target. His rating of 7.8 was the highest among the players listed for either side, which fits a striker who made the most of the one chance he needed.

Osijek's defensive side of the story is equally clear. Rudes conceded 0.62 xG in this match, against the 1.93 they usually allow when playing away, so the home attack was held to fewer good chances than the visitors' own goal-scoring record would have suggested. The home side had 13 shots, three of them on target, and Rudes had 13 as well, four of them on target.

Discipline was another difference. Rudes picked up four yellow cards and Osijek none, though none of the bookings changed the shape of the match, and neither side was reduced to ten men. The only player sent off was never shown a card, because neither side had one to give.

Osijek sit fourth in the table after their ten home matches, with 17 points. Rudes are tenth, with 7 points from their ten away games, and this win is the kind that keeps a side in contention for the rest of the season.

Player of the matchCherno Saho1 goal7.8

L. Jelenić1 chance created7.6

J. Poldrugač1 chance created7.6

M. Stolnik2 duels won7.2