He had help on the phone from Svědík even during the duel itself. “Even at half-time, we had a roughly one-minute conversation. He told me how he saw it from the TV. I don’t see it as the fact that I’ve made my league debut as a head coach at the age of 30. I take it more like a successful stand-in,” he claimed.
Baránek considered it extremely important that his team survived Dynamo’s subsequent pressure unscathed after reducing Budějovic to 1:2 from a penalty at the beginning of the second half. “With enormous effort, solid organization of the game in defense and thanks to a bit of luck, we overcame a number of opponent’s standards and several chances. And the third goal, which was then scored by substitute Valenta, calmed us down,” he praised.
In critical moments, goalkeeper Milan Heča kept the players of Slovácko at least three times in his first championship match after returning from Sparta. “I probably had the hardest time with Ondrášek’s head. Fortunately, he hit me,” he breathed.¨
He felt good in goal after a longer break in the game. “It was cool. Apart from that part of the game when we couldn’t keep the ball in front, we gave a decent performance. I hope we made coach Svědík happy. In the five years that I was not in Slovácko, the club made a huge performance shift,” praised Heča.
Budějovice coach Marek Nikl did not hide his considerable disappointment after the final whistle. “And mainly from the result. Despite the defeat, we presented ourselves with a solid game. But football also consists of mistakes, and unfortunately we didn’t avoid them this time,” he recalled in particular the first goal conceded after Hellebrand’s unfortunate slip, as well as the fourth goal, which Mihálik scored with an excellent lob from a good thirty meters.
He was very sorry that the South Bohemians could not add a second goal after the break after reducing the score to 1:2. “There were a lot of jams and situations from which we could have equalized. We didn’t take advantage of them, and instead Slovácko bounced back to a two-goal gap with a goal a quarter of an hour before the end of a rare attacking action,” said Nikla about the turning point, after which the Hradišť leadership had no problems controlling it.