BRATISLAVA, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The penultimate round of the regular season of the Slovakia's Fortuna Liga saw top-placed reigning champions Slovan Bratislava complete a four-goal comeback in a 4-3 win over bottom-ranked Pohronie on Saturday.
Pohronie was very close to a historic triumph over the most successful team in Fortuna Liga history, leading Slovan 3-0 at half-time after the home team's 27-year-old midfielder Jaroslav Mihalik assisted on the opener and then scored two consecutive penalty kicks.
Slovan's hot-blooded coach Vladimir Weiss made four substitutions during the break and said some juicy words in the locker room to force his team to rally in the second half. His tactics worked and the visitors turned the game around within 19 minutes by scoring four consecutive goals, with his son Weiss Jr. netting the winner in the 64th minute.
"Some of the players have no place in this team. Their performance in the first half had nothing to do with Slovan Bratislava. We have to draw serious conclusions. This has been probably the most eye-opening match of my coaching career. We have to make strict cuts. I will not allow anarchy to break out among the players. Some players will have to leave despite having valid contracts for the following seasons. I will give you no names today but either they go or I will," stated a disgruntled Weiss after the match.
Contrary to Slovan, third-ranked Ruzomberok were up 2-0, but newcomer Tatran Liptovsky Mikulas managed to rally in the second half for a 3-2 comeback.
In the fight for the title, the only real challenger for Slovan, second-ranked FC Spartak Trnava, let the deficit grow to eight points after failing to score against AS Trencin, which moved up one spot to seventh after the 0-0 draw on Saturday.
Sered beat FK Senica 2-1 to cement its sixth spot on Sunday. ■
