The winter break saw two new players arrive at Clujana and three fringe players leave. Manager Dan Lake bolstered his defensive options by signing Serbian defender Dragan Zarkovic on loan until the end of the season and Ivorian centre-back Kouassi N’Goran from club African Sports for a paltry €22k. Cosmin Iuhas, Adrian Popa and Brazilian Baiano found themselves surplus to requirements and were shipped out for a combined fee of €170k.
The club were rocked when goalkeeper Sebastian Hutan was the subject of much interest from Rapid Bucharest. Hutan did nothing to dispel fears that he might leave when he hinted that he felt ready to move on, his manager had different ideas, however. Dan Lake told worldsoccer.com “I am not about to let Sebastian go, we need to hang onto our best players so that this club can progress. I assure you that Sebastian’s ambitions match that of the club.”
Hutan has played every game under Lake’s charge and is considered a key member of the U Cluj squad.
With the season restarting on 5th March 2011 the U Cluj fans were in an expectant mood.
won 3-1 v FC Arges
Another highly polished performance from the CFM Universitatea Cluj-Napoca players saw their team run out 3 - 1 winners over FC Argeş Piteşti at Clujana. U Cluj dominated possession and finally took the lead when striker Flavius Băd scored early in the second half, and improving striker Andrei Voican doubled U Cluj's lead with a calm finish on 55 minutes. Despite Youssouf Kamara getting a goal for the visitors after 62 minutes, midfielder Adrian Ionescu put the game out of sight with a powerful effort from the edge of the penalty area on 87 minutes.
lost 0-2 v Unirea Urziceni
It was a poor showing from the Sepcile Rosii in this one-sided game as first Dacian Varga breached their defence, and then U Cluj captain Zsolt Szilagyi put the ball past his own keeper with a miserable back pass.
drew 1-1 v Sportul
Midfielder Charles Taylor gave U Cluj the lead with a placed shot in the 23rd minute, before Sportul captain Costin Curelea equalised on 74 minutes. In this, otherwise, unremarkable perfoemance.
won 3-0 v Astra 2009
In the first half of the game Szilagyi scored from the penalty spot after Oketola’s foul , striker Flavius Băd made it 2-0 with an absolute rocket from 20 yards. On 53 minutes the excellent Adrian Ionescu completed the rout with a powerful effort from the edge of the area which blasted against the inside of the post before hitting the back of the net on 53 minutes and from then on Astra 2009 never looked like recovering.
These two teams will met again at the end of the month in the first leg of the Romanian Cup semi-final, and it doesn’t bode well for the Astra management.
drew 1-1 v FC Timisoara
After 21 games of the season last year’s 4th place team, FC Timisoara, found themselves at the wrong end of the table. With the Timisoara team apparently scared of losing and the U Cluj players keeping on eye on next week’s cup semi-final, it was somewhat inevitable that the match would end in a draw. Adrian Ionescu scored for U Cluj and promising youngster Ivan Maras got the equaliser. U Cluj were nearly gifted a goal on 50 minutes through Mohamed Oulhaj's lapse in concentration but they failed to capitalise on the opportunity presented to them.
lost 2-3 v Astra 2009 (SF of the Romanian Cup, 1st leg)
After recently taking the Astra Ploieşti team apart in a 3-0 win at Clujana, the U Cluj players were brimming with confidence, but this only served to make them somewhat complacent.
Striker Alexandru Bălţoi got Astra 2009 off to a flyer by scoring with a close range finish after just 3 minutes. An error from stopper Sebastian Huţan then allowed Georgian Păun to score with a free header and when, on 85 minutes, Bălţoi added his 2nd goal of the game it appeared that U Cluj’s cup dream was in tatters.
Young striker Andrei Voican had been omitted from the U Cluj starting line up in favour of Australian Michael Baird. He came on in the second half and it was this substitution that was to give the U Cluj fans hope. No sooner had U Cluj kicked off after their opponents third goal when Voican latched onto a rebound to score on 87 minutes. He then gave his team a real lifeline when, 2 minutes into added on time, he nabbed a second away goal. Could there be yet more drama to come in the second leg next month?
