Humenné edge past Štítna in Cup upset
Humenné beat Štítna 2-1 in the Round of 128 of the Cup on Tuesday evening. The visitors went through to the next stage after a match that swung between moments of control and sudden chaos. By then, the script had already flipped once, and Štítna were chasing a game they might have won.
The home side took the lead in the twenty-third minute. It was a sharp strike that caught the defence flat-footed, and for a while Štítna believed they could hold on. They camped in the final third when they needed to, but possession never quite settled in their favour. To be fair, the visitors came back stronger after the break.
Humnenné levelled in the sixty-first minute. It came from sustained pressure rather than a single moment of brilliance, and the visitors found a way back into it. Their attacking shape improved, and suddenly Štítna were defending deeper. The momentum had shifted, though nobody could have predicted what came next.
The turning point arrived in the eighty-fourth minute when Humenné's man was sent off. Red card, and suddenly the visitors had to regroup. But then came the irony: in the eighty-ninth minute, they struck again. Štítna were left with nothing to lose and perhaps that freed the visitors to finish the job. The goal sealed it, even with a man down.
The statistics tell a story of domination without dominance. Humenné held 68 per cent possession and registered seven shots on target compared to three, yet Štítna's efficiency in the opening phase kept them in it. The visitors had five corners to none, and their attacks totalled 88 against 65. But many shots with two goals means chances went begging at times.
The result moves Humenné into the Round of 64, where they will face a tougher test. Štítna's campaign ends here, though their early promise suggested they might have gone further. Cup football has a way of evening things out, and this was one of those nights where the table went out of the window.