A quarter of the way into this season’s Prva Liga Telekom Slovenije, Slovenia’s top-flight football league, it’s lesser-fancied Mura who lead the way following Thursday’s 2-0 victory over perennial heavyweights Maribor.
Mura, who are enjoying just their third season in Slovenia’s top league after their founding just eight years ago, may not have controlled the proceedings – with their opponents enjoying 68% possession in the encounter played at the Mestni Stadion Fazanerija – but made their chances count.
Nini Kouter’s powerful header at the near post midway through the first half broke the deadlock, the in-form striker converting Luka Bobičanec’s inch-perfect cross for his fourth goal of the season.
Maribor piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser, but could not break down a stubborn Mura defence, and it would be the hosts themselves who would again find the back of the net. With three minutes left on the clock, goal-scorer Kouter pounced on a loose ball and charged towards the goal, only to be taken down by substitute Amir Dervišević, who received a straight red card for his tackle from behind.
Up stepped Bobičanec to convert the resulting penalty, turning from provider to scorer as his side secured a 2-0 victory, maintaining their two-point lead at the top of the Prva Liga standings.
Breathing down Mura’s neck is last year’s third-place finishers Olimpija, who recorded a comfortable 2-0 victory over Bravo at Stadion Stožice. Both goals resulted from set pieces as Andres Vombergar rose highest to head home a Radivoj Bosić free-kick on 56 minutes, before Miral Samardžić added a second, also via a header, from a corner ten minutes later.
The three points means Olimpija are joint-second on the table alongside Tabor Sežana, who on Wednesday suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat to bottom-of-the-log Gorica. Wednesday’s other fixture saw last season’s champions Celje go down 3-0 to Koper, leaving them in eighth place on the log with just two wins from their nine games played so far.
Screenshot: Prva Liga’s Facebook page
Upcoming fixtures, Round 10:
Monday, 2 November:
Mura - Celje
Aluminij - Maribor
Tuesday, 3 November:
Koper - Tabor Sežana
Gorica - Olympia
Bravo - Domžale postponed due to COVID-19 outbreak near Domžale
