Banská Bystrica ran riot against Ferencváros AV19 in a club friendly on Thursday, running out 6:1 winners at home. The hosts made light work of their Hungarian opponents, turning a recent defeat into a statement of intent with one of their most dominant performances in recent memory.
By then you would have noticed the contrast. Ferencváros had taken a narrow 2:3 win from Banská Bystrica just three weeks earlier, but this time the visitors came for a cross they never reached. The home side played the second half a man up in spirit if not in numbers, and the result told the story.
Ferencváros arrived in decent form with a 4:3 victory over Kosice, but since then they have lost four of five, including three heavy defeats to Graz 99. Banská Bystrica, meanwhile, had lost their last four before this — a run that suggested they were running out of games rather than finding answers.
The scoreline does not lie. Six goals against one is a margin that speaks of a team that kept their heads while the visitors lost theirs. Ferencváros are touch and go when they cannot get a foothold early, and Banská Bystrica did not let them.
The clean-sheet run came to an end for the visitors, but more importantly, the home side proved they can bounce back. Three weeks after going down 2:3, they now hold the upper hand — and the momentum.