Slovan Liberec and Slavia Prague played out a 1:1 draw at U Nisi Stadium on Sunday evening in the Czech League's fourth round. Tomáš Holeš opened the scoring for the visitors in the 15th minute, and Václav Baboula equalised for the hosts before the half-hour mark. Neither side managed to break through in what turned into a closely fought affair.
By then the visitors were already ahead, and here's the thing — Slovan didn't panic. They sat deep and soaked it up while Slavia went for the jugular, but the home side's back line held firm. The equaliser came in the 72nd minute when Baboula found space in the box and made no mistake. To be fair, both keepers had work to do, with Slavia's keeper making four saves compared to two for his counterpart.
The match turned at the break, and by then both managers had brought on fresh legs. Slavia made four changes in quick succession around the 64th minute — Wiktor Nowak, Samuel Isife, Michal Chytil, and Mubarak Suleiman all came on together. Slovan went for the jugular with their own substitutions, bringing on Lukáš Provod in the 71st minute before running out of games with late changes.
Neither side could claim dominance in possession, with the split sitting at 49 per cent for the hosts and 51 for the visitors. Shots told a similar story — Slovan managed five on target from nine attempts inside the penalty area, while Slavia found the mark three times from five efforts. Both teams created one big chance each, and neither could convert their superiority into more than a single point.
The result keeps Slavia at the top of the table with 14 points from six games, one ahead of Slovan who sit second with 13 points. Both sides have won four matches so far, though the hosts have one defeat to their name while the visitors remain unbeaten. The draw ended Slavia's run of clean sheets and gave Slovan something to build on after their mixed start to the season.