BRATISLAVA, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Slovan Bratislava remained on top of the standings of Slovak premier football league Fortuna Liga after the 13th round, while Zilina and Dunajska Streda both claimed victories to stay in the hunt for the top ranks.
It was supposed to be an easy victory for the leading Bratislava, but tenth-ranked Michalovce proved a tough nut to crack. The Slovenian-born Andraz Sporar, Bratislava's top scorer who is also the leading scorer of the league with nine goals, showed once again his value by scoring the only goal of the match in the 30th minute with a slick overhead shot with his back towards the net.
Zilina kept their pressure on the leaders, trailing by only two points after their 1-0 victory over Trnava.
Albanian defenceman Besir Demiri sent a beautiful long-range effort past Trnava's helpless goalkeeper late in the first half to seal the three points for Zilina and serve the home team their third defeat in a row.
Dunajska Streda managed to extend its winning streak to four, triumphing 2-0 on the pitch of the last-placed Pohronie. The struggling newcomer of the league hired a new coach Mikulas Radvanyi but failed to keep pace with the visitors who are enjoying a strong momentum gain in the season.
Trencin switched things up in the coaching department, as well, hiring Norbert Hrncar as the new coach. His first match leading Trencin ended in a 2-2 draw against Ruzomberok, a team Hrncar coached only recently. Ruzomberok led twice but the visitors managed to lever the score both times.
The derby match of two towns located close to each other, Nitra and Zlate Moravce, produced an expected result. The relegation-threatened Nitra failed to get rid of its negative streak, losing to the home team 1-0, allowing the opponents to move up two spots to fourth place in the table.
