BRATISLAVA, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The third round of Slovak football league Fortuna Liga shuffled the rankings thoroughly on Saturday.
Copying its spectacular 6-0 victory from the initial round of the 2020/21 season, Dunajska Streda crushed Nitra this time and retook the first position in the rankings thanks to its third straight win.
Slovan Bratislava got knocked off the throne because of a surprising 2-1 defeat at the hands of Zlate Moravce.
Senica managed to end its streak of two losses by sailing past Michalovce 3-0, sending the visitors to the bottom of the rankings after their third straight defeat.
Dunajska Streda offered its fans yet another six-goal show, this time at the expense of Nitra.
Many chances for the league leaders adorned the first half, but the fans had to save their celebrations until the final minutes. Dunajska Streda struck twice and extended its lead significantly in the second half to crush the visitors under the leadership of the two-goal Panamian defender Eric Davis.
Nitra's defense was more than lacking, forced to pull the handbrake twice, resulting in two penalty shots for the home team, both successful.
To another six-goal performance were treated the fans in Trencin.
The home team managed to answer their opponents' goals twice, but Zilina struck again late in the game with two more goals to seal their offensive efforts with a 4-2 triumph, defending the fourth rank in the league table with two victories and one loss so far.
The first defeat of the new season came in a very unfortunate time for the Slovan Bratislava Sports Club.
The league champions of the last two seasons started the new season brilliantly with two 5-0 victories and were hoping for another as they are getting ready for their first match of the Champions League Qualifiers against the exotic team of Klaksvikar Itrottarfelag on the Faroe Islands on Wednesday.
But it was not meant to be as the deciding goal against Zlate Moravce turned out to be an unlucky own goal by Bratislava's Dutch defenseman Mitch Apau early in the second half.
Bratislava returned home empty-handed after a 2-1 defeat.
Michalovce remains the last team without a goal scored in the new season and also without a single point in the rankings.
No wonder that the team from the East of Slovakia occupies the last place in league with a horrible 0-10 score.
Senica managed to fend off a similar fate thanks to a solid 3-0 victory after two straight losses.
The first half did not bring many scoring chances, but the home team's striker Tomas Malec broke the tie in the 44th minute with his first goal since coming to play for Senica this season, opening the gates for his colleagues to end the day with a much-needed triumph.
Trnava was also hoping for their third straight victory, but the surprisingly feisty Pohronie is proving a tough nut to crack this season.
The home team took the lead early after a successful free-kick but failed to expand on it on several occasions. So Pohronie retaliated in the 61st minute when the 22-year-old striker Bonfils-Caleb Bimenyimana scored his first goal since coming to Pohronie this season.
The fifth team of the last season Ruzomberok, is still struggling to find its lost form and sits almost at the bottom of the rankings with two draws and one loss.
In the least-eventful match of the third Fortuna Liga round, Ruzomberok and Sered split the points after a 0-0 draw. Enditem
