Romanian player shows sportsmanship by refusing to score when goalkeeper injured

Sportsmanship is by no means a certainty, but one player in Romania has proved that it is still alive and well in the beautiful game.

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On Friday night, Sepsi OSK hosted Petrolul Ploiesti in the Romanian top flight division Liga 1.

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In the final moments of added time at the end of the first half, Petrolul goalkeeper Octavian Valceanu appeared to go down injured when trying to claim a cross from the left flank.

The ball fell to the feet of Sepsi midfielder Cosmin Matei, who had a great opportunity to make it 2-0 to his side heading into the break.

However the Romanian player, who has made two appearances for his country, proceeded to do something quite extraordinary.

Instead of shooting the ball towards the target from close range, in what would have been an easy chance to score for the 31-year-old, he kicked it out of play.

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It was surely a surprise decision for the rest of his teammates, with Pavol Safranko being visibly shocked at what his fellow Sepsi star had just done considering the chance was on the plate for him.

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However, Matei could see that Valceanu was injured inside his six yard box and therefore decided to stop play in what was an inspiring act of sportsmanship, even though replays show that there was little contact in the incident.

The goalkeeper was OK to continue for the rest of the match, with Matei being substituted in second half stoppage time.

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Sepsi went on to beat Petrolul 2-0 thanks to a brace from Mario Rondon, but one of the big stories will be the evidence of gamesmanship still being shown in the modern game.