Prince Tagoe is the new hero of Partizan fans. With two goals in the first leg of the Serbian Cup semi-final, the tall Ghana forward brought the black-whites a 2-0 win over arch rivals Red Star on Wednesday afternoon. Partizan will be brimming with confidence ahead of the second leg at Marakana, where they will be taking a healthy lead.

The two teams’ pre-announced starting line-ups were abandoned as both coaches were forced to make last-minute modifications to their teams owing to injuries, as Mikic replaced Addy for Red Star and Partizan’s Vukic an unused sub with Smiljanic in the midfield from the first minute. Pushing Tosic to the central defensive position, Red Star boss Robert Prosinecki decided to experiment with Cosic alongside Tosic, with Mikic and Ninkov along either touch line.

The untried defensive formation proved to be far from watertight as Partizan’s Iliev and Tagoe – aided from the midfield by Babovic and Ilic – had acres of space and tormented the Red Star back four in the first half. Partizan needed just the one occasion to catch the Red Star defence napping to open the scoring in the Belgrade derby.

After only four minutes of play, Smiljanic drove a loose ball that bounced before him 30-odd metres from goal, while the keenly aware striker Tagoe connected with his head on the half-volley from his teammate and sliced the ball just enough to send it home past wrong-footed Red Star goalkeeper Stamenkovic. After the perfect opening by Partizan, Red Star took over the reins, created half- and clear cut opportunities, but Evandro, Cadu, Koroman and finally Borja all had efforts that were either wide from goal or too timid for Partizan keeper Stojkovic.

Prince Tagoe mirrored his contribution from the first half when he doubled Partizan’s lead with another headed goal in the fourth minute of the second half. Babovic sent a curling ball in from a set-piece from the right flank, as the Ghanaian rose high and powerfully into the air to head home his and Partizan’s second from close range almost unobstructed by the disorganised Red Star defence.

Prosinecki tried to shake up his team by bringing on Vilotic for Mikic in order to reinforce the defensive ranks, something he now may wish he would have done before the game had started. However, nothing changed in Red Star’s favour as they looked shell-shocked by the second Partizan goal, as the hosts took over complete control of the midfield. Lazovic and Kaludjerovic came on as Red Star’s last throws of the dice, but little was changed with it in the final 20 minutes of the game. Meanwhile, Partizan boss Stanojevic strengthened the midfield by introducing Kamara instead of Petrovic and Adiyiah in place of Iliev on the flank.

Partizan eased their way through the rest of the game and Red Star will have a mammoth task in the return leg at home when they attempt to nullify Partizan’s aggregate lead.