FK Budućnost - An almighty collapse

In last week's post about title races I mentioned briefly how the title race in Montenegro had been reopened in recent weeks. I felt this warranted a post of it's own because of how it came to this stage of an open race, whereas only a few months ago FK Budućnost seemed to be pretty much nailed on for the title honours. 

FK Budućnost hail from the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica. Since the country's independence from Serbia in 2006, the club have won the league crown twice and have posted six runners-up placings. In the Yugoslav era the club reached the final of the Yugoslav cup in 1965 and 1977, losing on both occasions. Last season Budućnost lagged behind fellow capital side Mladost and last summer were a couple of spot kicks away from eliminating eventual Europa League quarter-finalists Genk. 

This season however is certainly worth talking about. At the beginning of the campaign Budućnost raced out of the traps with five wins from their opening five games. They wouldn't taste defeat until a 2-0 reverse at home to Rudar in October. Four wins from the next four league outings would extend their lead at the top of the table. A cup exit at the hands of Grbalj did put a dampener on the first half of the season however. A 3-0 win over Bokelj in the final game before the winter break got that cup disappointment out of their system. 

At the break Budućnost were eleven points clear of Mladost and seventeen ahead of FK Zeta and Sutjeska. Their record stood at played seventeen, won thirteen, drawn three and just one defeat. Manager Miodrag Vukotić seemingly guiding his side to a third league title. 

However there was a sensational collapse in the wings. The first two games back after the break yielded four points against Zeta and Sutjeska. However that victory over Sutjeska would be their only victory for two months and to date the team have only recorded two since.

Budućnost's record since the break has been a stark contrast to their record before the break. Played fourteen, won three, drawn three and lost eight. Goalscoring has dried up and the defence has become extremely leaky. Before the break they conceded just seven in total, they have conceded seventeen in the games after the break.

Radomir Đalović hasn't replicated his autumn form

Foto: Luka Zeković / Vijesti

Top goalscorer remains Goran Vujović with eleven and despite the team's collapse he has remained on some sort of scoring trail. Vujović has probably been the only player to retain some sort of form resembling the first half of the season. Radomir Đalović in total has ten league goals with just three coming after the break. Midfielder Milivoje Raičević has nine goals to his name, however he hasn't scored since December before the break. 

Amazingly their collapse hasn't nudged them off the summit, yet. Sutjeska sit two points behind them having made up fifteen of the seventeen point gap that existed between the two at the break. FK Zeta are a further point behind in third but would actually be two points clear but for a six point deduction for two separate cases of disciplinary breaches. 

Budućnost have two games remaining to crawl over the line but for a side that require two victories to guarantee the title but have only won three games since the new year, nothing is assured in Montenegro.