Lech Poznań - Bandirmaspor Kulübü 1:0

Even though the weather forecast on the day prior to the match predicted heavy rainfall, just as the two teams were getting ready for kick-off on Thursday afternoon, the sun came out and made the conditions much more enjoyable.

Despite the match being a training game, both teams came in on the pitch fully focused and determined to get a good result. Even though Bandirmaspor is the lowest-ranked team from all opponents that Lech Poznań is going to face throughout the training camp in Turkey, Żuraw decided to send in first-choice players, including the latest transfers - Jesper Karlström and Bartosz Salamon.

The latter one marked his debut for Lech with an early goal. The former Academy player who returned to Poznań after nearly 14 years spent in Italy found enough space just outside the box and fired a precise shot into the corner of the goal. The impressive attempt on target aroused a lot of joy and delight on Lech’s substitute bench. The Polish team visibly dominated on the pitch, however, they lacked precision in the last phase of their offensive attempts which made it hard for them to place the ball in the back of the net.

Despite the fact that Bandirmaspor is a second-division side, they put on a good performance on Thursday afternoon. In the 23rd minute, the Turkish team had a decent opportunity to equalize but Davas’ shot from outside the box stopped on the post.

During halftime, coach Żuraw replaced the entire squad and sent in different players for the second 45 minutes. Among them was Antonio Milić who has recently joined Lech from Anderlecht and a couple of Academy youngsters for whom the training camp is the first real chance to show their potential to the senior-team coaching staff.

Even though the squad changed, the second half looked similar to the first 45 minutes. The 16-year-old Antoni Kozubal played a key role in Lech’s good performance – the youngster was positioned in the midfield and tasked with building the offensive attempts which he did extraordinarily well. One of his perfectly-timed long balls caused his senior teammates to look at Pedro Tiba who’s Kozubal’s role model and whom the 16-year-old - according to many - resembles.

The squad from Poznań controlled the game but couldn’t seal their good performance with another goal. Lech had numerous goal-scoring opportunities and Filip Szymczak – who was returning after an injury – came close to scoring when Kravets set him up with a perfect pass from the left flank, but the youngster’s attempt was off target. In the 72^nd, Mohammad Awwad was much more precise than his younger teammate but this time Bandirmaspor’s goalkeeper intervened impressively. Even though Lech failed to improve the score, their overall performance was satisfactory and brings optimism ahead of the upcoming training games and league clashes which are due to resume at the end of January.

Lech Poznań – Bandirmaspor 1:0 (1:0)

Goals: Bartosz Salamon (12.)

Lech Poznań: Mickey van der Hart (46. Filip Bednarek) - Alan Czerwiński (46. Filip Borowski), Lubomir Šatka (46. Thomas Rogne), Bartosz Salamon (46. Antonio Milić), Tymoteusz Puchacz (46. Vasyl Kravets) - Jakub Kamiński (46. Krystian Palacz), Jesper Karlström (46. Igor Ławrynowicz), Pedro Tiba (46. Antoni Kozubal), Jan Sýkora (46. Michał Skóraś) - Filip Marchwiński (46. Mohammad Awwad) - Mikael Ishak (46. Filip Szymczak)

Bandirmaspor (starting line-up): Gokhan Degirmenci - Orhan Ovacikli, Gokay Guney, Onur Akbay, Abdurrahim Dursun - Dogancan Davas, Guy-Michel Landel, Ruben Rayo, Yonathan De Valle - Mickael Pote