Round-up of Corgon league matches

DAC are on the up.  Big time.  A run of 4 wins and 3 draws out of their last 7 leagues games, against opposition including MSK Zilina & Slovan Bratislava, has seen the team traditionally representing the Hungarian population in Slovakia transform themselves from relegation candidates to European pretenders.  They now find themselves in 7th place just 3 points off 4th.  The stadium, which was temporarily closed earlier in the season due to the lack of CCTV cameras, is now drawing in the biggest crowds of the Corgon League and the fans are loving every minute of it.

36 year old goalkeeper Pavel Kovac must be pleased with his decision to wind down towards retirement back home in Slovakia after several years spent in Greece.  Kovac admitted that it took some time to readjust to playing back in Slovakia after his time at Olympiakos but the veteran keeper must take some serious credit for the current run which includes 3 consecutive clean sheets.

Striker Zoltán Harsányi who has been involved with Slovakia U21 is moving up the goalscoring tables and netted the 3rd against Ruzomberok on Saturday.  Harsányi returned to Slovakia this season after 3 years at Bolton Wanderers (where he didn’t make an appearance) and no offer of a contract at NEC Nijmegen, however with performances like this it won’t be long before foreign teams, and possibly Vladimir Weiss start taking notice once again.  DAC face Senica, Trnava, Presov & Dubnica next and if they keep the current run of form going they will have a big influence on things at the top of the table and potentially leave themselves in a very strong position going into the winter break.

ViOn Zlaté Moravce 1-1   Slovan Bratislava (3,218)

Another good crowd in for this clash of two teams tied on equal points in 4th and 5th in the league.  Slovan needed a win here to take advantage of Zilina dropping points, but once again failed in their mission against opponents they would normally expect to beat.  A goal for Filip Sebo a plus point for a Slovan team struggling to keep touch at the top but Slovan go home ruing numerous missed chances by both Sebo and strike-partner Juraj Halenar.

Tatran Presov 0-0 Spartak Trnava (2,105)

Tatran will also be pleased with over 2,000 people in for this match and probably will be happy to gain a point against supposed title challengers in Spartak.  Trnava unimpressively record their 2nd consecutive 0-0 draw and in a similar fashion to Slovan fail to take advantage of Zilina’s draw on Friday.  6 points remains the gap between Trnava and Zilina.

MFK Dubnica 0-1 FK Senica (1,460)

Senica are the only team who close the gap on Zilina and are now 4 points behind the Champions in 2nd place.

MFK Kosice 3-0 FC Nitra (670)

Well, I didn’t see this one coming, but Kosice proved there is still life in Slovakia’s 2nd city team although you wouldn’t believe it based on the crowd.  Kosice move off the bottom of the table and nobody can argue with a convincing 3-0 victory over a Nitra side slipping down the table fast.  The rivalry between neighbours Presov and Kosice keeps things very interesting at the bottom of the table and if either of them puts a run of form together, Dubnica and Nitra need to be careful!

MSK Zilina 3-3 Dukla Banksa Bystrica (3,418)

An entertaining game on Friday night saw Zilina offer a glimmer of hope to the chasing pack at the top of the division. Both sides played a fast, open game, both looked dangerous every time they attacked and both were alarmingly vulnerable defensively. Bystrica’s problem was their goalkeeper Peter Boroš, who never looked comfortable when high balls came into his penalty area. Žilina’s three goals all came from crosses that should have been dealt with but weren’t, Tomáš Oravec applying simple finishing touches each time.

In the opposite goal, Martin Dúbravka was largely blameless – certainly he had little chance with any of the Bystrica goals – but he was ill-served by central-defenders Jozef Piaček and Mario Pečalka, both of whom had poor games. Andrej Hesek matched Oravec’s first two goals before being replaced by Uškovič, who rounded off perhaps the best move of the match to equalise at 3-3 and complete the scoring.

Zilina must now switch their focus back to the Champions League.  Tuesday’s visit of French Champions Olympique Marseille arguably provides Zilina’s best chance of gaining points in their first venture into the group stages of Europe’s elite competition, especially after the encouraging performance 2 weeks ago in the Stade Velodrome where Zilina were unfortunate not to gain a draw.  Marseille’s form has improved domestically and Zilina need to be aware that the French team will be keen to impress on the European stage once again and are still fighting for 2nd place in the group.1. Liga

AS Trencin slipped up losing 3-2 away at Bodva Moldava and Lucenec are the new name in 2nd place after Liptovsky Mikulas also lost at Dolny Kubin.  Trencin remain 11 points clear.  Petrzalka are temporarily down to 4th and miss out on the opportunity to regain 2nd place after the worrying news that FK Puchov didn’t turn up for their match against Petrzalka this morning due to financial difficulties.