Hajduk Split faced a shocking upset Saturday at the hands of NK Rudes who earned their first win at Poljud … probably ever. Records found did not go back far enough to see if they beat them prior to the creation of the Prva Liga or any cup competition, but chances are, this is the biggest victory in Rudes’ 60-year history.
It also may be the worst defeat in Hajduk’s 100-year history.
Until Saturday, Rudes had one win, which they obtained against the almost-nearly-as-sad NK Istra 1961, and scored 15 goals through 15 weeks of the season.
Some how, Rudes found a way to put three in the goal behind the Hajduk defense, who led 2-0 at half. That’s three unanswered goals in 45 minutes.
In May of this year, Rudes signed a 10-year deal with La Liga’s Deportivo Alaves, becoming a feeder club for the Spanish side. In return, they hold several Spaniards on their roster who made the deal worthwhile on Saturday, namely Juanan Entrena, who scored twice, including the game-winner in the 89th minute.
Hajduk players approached the north stands which encamp Torcida, who let their displeasure be known with threats of violence against the players and throwing objects and broken seats at them. Fran Tudor was struck with a lighter that was hurled by an irate supporter.
Hajduk coach Joar Carrillo refused to resign after the match, but he was put out of his misery by the front office, who fired him Monday morning. Both Carrillo and the players were escorted out of the stadium Saturday by police for their own safety.
Hajduk sits in fourth place while Rudes remains in last.
The match week began on Friday with a thwarting of NK Osijek, who are thanking their lucky stars for some of the results on Saturday.
Inter defeated second-place Osijek 3-1, who wasn’t able to find a goal until Gabrijel Boban scored a consolation goal in the 80th minute. Despite the loss Osijek remains in second place, now 10 points behind leading Dinamo.
HNK Rijeka had every opportunity to take over second place with a win, the Lokomotiva side proved too tough, taking all three points with a 1-0 win.
Luka Capan scored the match’s lone goal and made Rijeka’s undefeated 2016/17 season look like a distant memory. The current Croatian champions now sit in third place, two points behind Osijek and tied on points with Hajduk.
Dinamo Zagreb earned the lone top-four win over the weekend, but it did not come easy against Tomisla Ivkovic’s Slaven Belupo side.
The match in Koprivnica ended 1-0, but remained scoreless until the 90th minute when substitute Amir Gojak headed home the game-winner only minutes after he replaces Angelo Henriquez as striker.
Ivkovic was trying to do the impossible, taking points from Dinamo after sealing a point from Hajduk last week in his first match at the helm of Slaven. Ivkovic is best known for leading NK Lokomotiva to a second-pace finish in the Prva Liga during the 2012/13 season and winning the Croatian cup in 2013. He is now on his way to make Slaven a force to be reckoned with in Croatia.
But it wasn’t meant to be for him Saturday as Dinamo took all three points and extended their lead on the league table to 10 points.
Oh, and NK Istra 1961 earned a win over Cibalia 3-1. Istra’s future remains in question as players have gone now six months without pay. American owner Michael Glover is rumored to be pressured to remove Istra from league competition before the season ends.
Slaven Bilic was sacked by his Premier League club this morning. How much cevapi and gold will Hajduk have to offer him to lure him to Split?
My great great grandmother was from Split. I’ll do this for her..and gladly take over Hajduk
If they were throwing objects at the players I’d say they blame the players.
The Hajduk players made some good money betting on Rudes to win, while the fans wasted money to watch the game!
HNL is a joke.
Hajduk a joke and will always be a joke. Fans throwing objects at the players. Bunch of losers. Who will they blame now? The ref?
RUUUUDEEEEŠ!!
God damn that is some gloomy music playing over the Hajduk hilights!
I’ve got no sympathy for them.
They’re 2 pts out of 2nd.
Big deal.
It would be nice to see this past weekend loss as the beginning of the end of 10 years of misery at Hajduk! for the better of Croatia and Croatian soccer, we need Hajduk to get back to being a respectable organization that is healthy and produces results within the league and by producing and selling their players.
Yeah, I was on a anti-Hajduk rant for a while because I was sick and tired of seeing blame go to everyone but themselves. Now, I just wanna see them succeed…thats the truth. it does us harm when they aren’t at their very best and if we truly want a healthy league and national team, they have to be part of it!