Spartak Trnava host Zilina at the Anton Malatinsky Stadium on Saturday evening for the sixth round of the Slovak Superliga, and the visitors left with a 3-1 victory. The hosts took an early lead through M. Fasko, but Zilina responded quickly and controlled the rest of the game.
And here's the thing about the first twenty minutes — Spartak opened the scoring in the sixteenth minute when M. Fasko found the net, then lost the thread almost immediately. T. Kudlicka equalised for Zilina two minutes later, only to pick up a yellow card himself in the twentieth minute. By then, P. Ilko had already stepped in to put the visitors ahead thirty minutes into the match.
Zilina doubled their advantage in the fifty-eighth minute with a second goal from P. Ilko, and the game was effectively settled. Spartak made several changes in the second half, bringing on M. Fasko and P. Ilko himself off the bench, but could not find a way back.
To be fair, Spartak dominated possession at 53 per cent and created more big chances, but their shot accuracy of 29 per cent tells its own story. Zilina, with just 47 per cent of the ball, registered seven shots on target and converted two of them.
Both sides enter this fixture level on points, each with 13 from six games, so the result shifts the balance in the top three. Zilina move into third while Spartak remain in second, though the gap between them narrows again.
