The opening stages saw the hosts have an astonishing 74% possession, which resulted in five efforts at goal before 10 minutes were on the clock. However, KuPS could have taken the lead when Ayman Aiki let fly from distance, forcing Borac goalkeeper Mladen Jurkas to go full length to push his low left-footed drive around the post.
The game quickly opened up, with both midfields far too easy to play through. KuPS kept pushing up en masse, and as a result they consistently left gaps in behind for Borac to exploit. The five saves that visiting custodian Johannes Kreidl had made were a major reason why the likes of Amer Hiros remained frustrated, but the pressure eventually told on 29 minutes when Stefan Savic’s long-range right-footed effort took a deflection to wrong-foot Kreidl.
The pattern continued until half-time, with the hosts firing off 18 shots, eight of which were on target, though they weren’t able to add to the score despite their best efforts.
Both sides appeared to take a more considered approach after the break, but as soon as Boraj attacked again, they added a second. With KuPS’ back four caught on the halfway line, Luka Juricic had time to pick out Matej Deket, who poked home for 2-0 despite the close attention of a couple of defenders.
A stunning free-kick from Julius Eskesen almost brought KuPS back into the match, but an even better flying one-handed save from Jurkas kept the effort out.
As the game wore on, the pace noticeably slowed, though to KuPS’ credit, they wouldn’t allow Borac to settle, however, chances for both sides were at a premium. The result means that the hosts have still never lost a major European game at home (W6, D3), whilst the Kuopio side will have to lick their wounds after a 10th European away game in which they’ve failed to score.
Review all tonight's Conference League action on Flashscore.
