Zhlobin ended their Extraleague campaign with a 6:9 victory over Slavuchich on 9 September 2026. The result puts the visitors firmly in the early conversation while leaving the hosts to reassess. Both sides enter the table with zero points, zero games played, and zero defeats — a blank slate for everyone. What emerged from this opening round was anything but balanced.
The scoreline tells its own story. Slavuchich, who had won three of their last five encounters against Zhlobin, found themselves outscored by three goals. The visitors had taken a narrow defeat 2:3 in their previous meeting on 6 September, then lost 2:1 away at home to the hosts on 8 August. This time they went the other way in emphatic fashion.
We had backed Slavuchich for victory with 45 per cent confidence. The prediction did not come off. Zhlobin simply outworked them in transition, and the hosts could not slow the game down when they needed to. The visitors were everywhere, finding space where Slavuchich's defence had closed in on a deal across the opening exchanges.
Recent form suggests this rivalry runs deeper than one result. Zhlobin had beaten Slavuchich 6:3 on 2 September before falling 3:6 at home on the same day. They had also won 3:2 away on 18 August and 2:1 at Gomel on 16 August. The hosts, meanwhile, had dropped points against Soligorsk 2:3 and Vitebsk 2:3 in their last two outings.
With the table still empty, there is no gap in points to measure yet. No leader has emerged, no one has bottled a start. What matters now is that Zhlobin proved they can finish a game, and Slavuchich showed they need to find a way to close out results before the momentum shifts permanently.