Uryga: I hope that I will finally score a goal in this round

The spring season got off to a good start for Wisła Kraków, which snatched three points in Rzeszów, defeating Stal 2-1. Despite nerves and a fight to the very end, White Star captain Alan Uryga breathed a sigh of relief.

"The circumstances, the conditions, the opponent's attitude, the first match - we could probably try to list many reasons, at least try to find them, but there's really no point looking for excuses or justifications. That's how the match was. We also adapted more to what was happening on the pitch, meaning there was more direct football, fighting than coherent actions. We would probably like to play football, we would always like to dominate, play short passes and create beautiful actions. Unfortunately, in this league, the conditions are what they are, and sometimes matches like the one against Stal will happen. I'm convinced that this won't be the last such match this season. The trick is to adapt to such conditions. To respond with something other than just one game idea. Of course, we're not satisfied with the style of play in this match and we'll work on imposing our own style on our opponents in the next matches. However, the truth is that in the end, after the match in Rzeszów, we take the three points. There were some nerves, some emotions, but in this league, only points count. We learned that very brutally." We talked about this last season. The first match is behind us, and we know how these matches are sometimes. We need to look positively to the future and work on improving our game," the Wisła Kraków captain began.

However, there were inaccuracies and mistakes in the Krakow team's game that cost them dearly - they lost a goal. "We probably conceded that goal partly due to a lack of concentration, but also because this is the style of play we want to play. We want to play with the ball, and that also involves a bit more risk in our own half, so that we can later break through and gain an advantage in the opponent's half. The coach warned us that things like this can happen. The question is how we react to it. I hope there are as few such errors as possible, but it's obvious that you won't emerge unscathed from every situation. Sometimes that's simply the price of playing football, of trying to build up the action with short passes in your own half," he added. "The second half was actually a bit better for us, although there were moments when I felt like we were getting too involved in Stal's games again – that is, it was more like a game of dodgeball. There was a moment, about 10/15 minutes in, when we were attacking with 5-6 men, only to lose the ball straight away, which Stal would then take over and do the same. It was like running from goal to goal, like backyard play. So, although we were better in the second half, we still made mistakes," he continued.

At the end of the match, the referee used VAR and, after a review, awarded a penalty kick to the opponent. "When I saw the referee waiting several minutes for the VAR to give a hint on his headset, I knew that if that was the case, it would probably be a penalty. Because in such situations, referees usually change their decision on the pitch. A penalty isn't a goal, though. We may not have a high penalty save percentage, but the opponent still has to score. This time we succeeded. And honestly, right after that missed penalty, I started thinking that this was the moment to punish them for it. And that's what happened," he analyzed.

Thanks to the victory over Stal, Wisła players recorded a series of three wins in a row. "That's great then! I hadn't thought about it, to be honest, because the winter break threw us off our stride a bit. You could say it's a bit like hat-tricks. We scored a non-traditional hat-trick because it was separated by the winter break. We have to look for as many of these streaks as possible. Without them, there will be no direct promotion. This kind of struggle, dropping points every other match, won't propel us as high as we'd like," he noted.

Interestingly, the White Star's win came after a set piece. "We were lacking a bit of that. We'd like to see more concrete results from set pieces. I'm really hoping we'll get back on track in that regard. We've spent a lot of time on it. I hope I'll finally score a goal this season. In the match against Stal, we had more chances from our set pieces. Even the first goal started with a throw-in, we were left in the penalty area, a cross was thrown in, there was some confusion, and the goal was scored. However, we still need to work on our set pieces," he added. "It won't be easier, but we've learned many times that the schedule doesn't have to be so crucial to results. Sometimes, matches against top teams go much better than against teams ranked slightly lower. We even managed to play very good matches against the top teams in the fall, and we had matches like those against Podbeskidzie, fighting for relegation, when things were very bad. I wouldn't care who we play or in what order. Let's do our job, work hard every day, and believe that we will regularly score points and climb the table," concluded Alan Uryga.