The Astra Chronicle
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A brace, and Andrei Dumiter takes the afternoon — 8.59
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Andrei Dumiter provided it, and the 8.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Razvan Bancu keeps Astra in it on his own
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Vlad Nedelcearu, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Romano Casella signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Romano Casella and Astra agree another 4 years.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Tempers go at Astra
Daniel Maxim was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match18 Sep 2027
Astra get the job done against Pandurii
A 3‑1 win over Pandurii, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A masterclass from Romano Casella
Marked 9.02 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad20 Sep 2027
No hiding place for Andrei Dumiter
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrei Dumiter, and the manager let it.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
One of those days for Daniel Maxim
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.31, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
In brief
- Market Ciprian Mitrita leaves for nothing
- Market Claudiu Cicaldau leaves for nothing
- The terraces The press cannot get enough of Romano Casella