Beluša and Piešťany shared ninety minutes of nothing much, then let penalties do the talking. The hosts held on for a 1-1 draw before winning 4-2 on spots, advancing in the Round of 64. C. Biricz gave Beluša the lead at twelve minutes, and T. Simek dragged Piešťany back at eighty-four. By then the game had settled into that familiar cup rhythm — patient, probing, waiting for a mistake.
What happened after the whistle said more than the ninety minutes before it. Beluša took four penalties and scored all four. Piešťany missed two, and the rest was noise. The shootout came at eighty-five minutes of stoppage time, when legs were already heavy and concentration thin.
The hosts had looked comfortable enough in the opening stages. Biricz's goal at twelve felt like a statement, the kind of early strike that lets a team breathe. Piešťany survived, and then slowly wore Beluša down. Simek's strike at eighty-four shifted the board, and suddenly extra time mattered.
Penalty record is a blunt instrument. Beluša kept their nerve when it counted, converting four from four. Piešťany missed two, and the difference was enough. The hosts move on, the visitors go home with a blank page.
Beluša's recent form has been patchy — they lost 4-0 to Spartak Trnava last September, drew 2-3 with Kolínany, and beat Sokol Borský Mikuláš 2-0 last month. Piešťany arrived on a run of seven goals against Kopčany and six against Tovarníky, but had lost 1-0 to Slovan Dušło Šaľa. Cup football has its own rules, and neither side carried much momentum into this one.