Soccer-Askovski double sinks parent club Partizan

By Zoran Milosavljevic BELGRADE, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Novi Pazar's on-loan Stefan Askovski returned to haunt his parent club Partizan Belgrade by scoring twice in a 3-2 home win over the Serbian champions on Saturday. It was the first defeat of the season for Partizan, who fielded a second string side with one eye on next Wednesday's Champions League third qualifying round second leg against Steaua Bucharest. This week's first leg ended 1-1. Midfielder Nikola Trujic gave the visitors an early lead but 23-year-old wing back Askovski, who joined Partizan in 2012 but has only played one game for them and been farmed out on loan five times, turned the match on its head. The Macedonian won two successive penalties, with Predrag Pavlovic converting the first to level the score before Partizan keeper Zivko Zivkovic superbly denied Vladimir Radivojevic. Askovski headed the home side into a 2-1 lead several minutes later before Nemanja Kojic bundled in an equaliser on the stroke of halftime. With Novi Pazar on the back foot after the break, Askovski netted a 72nd-minute winner when he swept home a rebound after a Partizan defender cleared Pavlovic's shot off the line. "Partizan resting their regular starters played into our hands as we exploited chinks in their armour in an entertaining and action-packed first half," Novi Pazar coach Petar Kurcubic told Arenasport television. "We were on the back foot in the second but fortunately we managed to take the solitary chance we created after the interval, when we were already running on empty." Partizan have taken six points from their opening three games while Novi Pazar have four. (Editing by Toby Davis)