Maribor hit Brum Note, and Round 13 of the Prva Liga…

The Europa League dished out another defeat to Maribor, who more than just turned up in their home tie against Birmingham City. For UK viewers, the highlights are here (it’s channel 5’s website, not sure if it’s international).  The Slovenian team had some good chances, especially in the first half, but it took some grade-A comedy goal-keeping to allow the Viola to get in front – Colin Doyle’s missed swipe at a backpass allowed Dalibor Volaš to tuck the ball in on the 29 minute mark. In the second half, however, Birmingham came out the stronger. Scottish midfielder Chris Burke levelled the scores with a nice finish in the 64^th minute, before Wade Elliot’s shot squirmed away from Handanovič’s grasp in the 78^th minute to cruelly deny Maribor what might have been a deserved draw. Although the general expectation is that this Europa League campaign is a good way of getting some experience and cash for the team, it’s surely a shame to have missed out on a hard fought point.

Two days later it was back to the Prva Liga. Koper climbed off the bottom thanks to a win over Domžale: Milan Osterc scoring coolly with a lob in the 8^th minute to open the scoring, followed by a goal for Adnan Aganovič on the 33^rd. Mitja Zatkovič’s freekick in the 66^th minute added a goal for Domžale’s account, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Domžale losing 2:1.

Maribor were back to winning ways following their rousing, but ultimately unsuccessful struggle against Birmingham (that match itself following a limp 2:0 defeat to Nafta last weekend), when Triglav Kranj rolled into town. After a goalless first half where both teams had decent chances, Maribor struck through a cinematic diving header starring Etien Velikonja’s bonce (1:29, here). The second goal, bundled in by Marcos Tavares on the 87^th minute was far less worthy of the red carpet.

Nafta carried on the good work from last weekend’s victory over Maribor when they held Olimpija 1:1 in Ljubljana. Roland Polareczki found space that shouldn’t have existed to plant a header from a corner in the 33^rd minute to put the visitors ahead. Not to be outdone, Dalibor Radujko made the most of a variation on that theme to draw the match level on the hour.

Gorica kept the pressure up on Olimpija in second place when they visited Celje. From the highlights it looks like it was one-way traffic until Celje managed to pop one away from a free kick via Togolese centre-back Serge Akakpo’s head on the 29^th minute. Despite the chances that Gorica had, Celje (despite losing Zoran Pavlovič for a second yellow card on the 80^th minute) held on to their lead as the 90^th minute came and went. Just before full time the team numbers were levelled when Miha Mevlja used his elbow in an extra-judicial manner not often seen in peacetime, his marching orders swiftly followed. By that point the match was setting itself up for a coup de grace of the most careless kind. With the warmth of the referee’s breath on his whistle to call time on the encounter, Celje giving the world a masterclass in what happens if your defenders don’t know what to do with loose balls. Twice. Goals in the 92^nd and 94^th minute marked the comeback and snatched the victory for Gorica. Spinning heads all round for the Celje players.

Decent chances were few and far between in the other tie of the round, which saw Mura and Rudar play out a scoreless draw.  Perhaps after two weeks of midweek fixtures on top of the weekend rounds the teams will be glad of the international break, which means just under a fortnight off for the Prva Liga.

The national team return to Euro 2012 qualifying with hopes of a play-off place very much in other people’s hands.  They will have to hope that Serbia lose at home to Italy on Friday before they host the Serbs, a match that they will also need to win.  Even if they do that, they will need to hope that Estonia lose away to Northern Ireland, before the Irish then lose to Italy. It’s a minefield, and one that Slovenia are unfortunately very unlikely to circumnavigate successfully. Time for crossed fingers and Faustian pacts.

Prva Liga, round 13. Ties played on the 2^nd and 3^rd of October:

Koper 2:1 Domžale

Maribor 2:0 Triglav

Celje 1:2 Gorica

Mura 0:0 Rudar

Olimpija 1:1 Nafta

League round up and Respite for Maribor with the return of the Europa League

As last season’s defending champions, Maribor have been enduring a rocky time in the league of late. Score draws against Koper and Gorica in the league had allowed Olimpija to close the gap on them to three points coming into last weekend. Round 11 saw Olimpija make light work of a Koper team that continue to be deeply unimpressive. Scrappy goals from defensive errors and an occasionally befuddled looking Igor Nenezič in Koper’s goal marked out the green dragon’s 3:1 win. In keeping with the day’s theme, poor defending on Olimpija’s part allowed Damir Hadžič to score a laughably soft goal from a corner kick.  The annoyance of missing out on the clean sheet must be tempered somewhat by Dare Vršič adding another couple of goals to his tally to keep him firmly atop the scoring charts. A mere 600 supporters rattling around Stožice perhaps bodes badly for hopes of Olimpija managing to establish themselves as a real force in the Prva Liga, in the short-term at least.  The public of Ljubljana need to be convinced one way or another.

Perhaps the public of Celje have never been convinced. The Arena Petrol has many faults, but you’d hope that more than 500 would take an interest in the team from Slovenia’s third largest city. Especially as they seemed to have learnt how to win of late.  An impressive display against Domžale on Saturday saw Celje run out 3:0 winners. If the highlights are anything to go by, they look far more organised now, and the score could have been much higher. It wasn’t until the second half that they managed to open the scoring with Denis Popovič scoring a classic ‘did he really mean it?’ effort from downtown (2:00 here – Goli Gol would suggest that a clearer cross you’d be hard pushed to find, but it certainly looked good). It’s unsurprising that Celje felt they’d identified a weakness, and had an identical crack straight after.

Following on from the ever-suspiciously round attendance figures, a much healthier 4,500 turned up to the Ljudski Vrt to see table toppers Maribor come unstuck at a formerly hapless Nafta team, the visitors running out 2:0 winners. Opening goal scorer Da Silva is on loan at the Prekmurian team from Maribor, which can’t have gone down amazingly well with his full-time employers. The score line probably flatters Nafta, and Maribor had a fair number of decent chances, but the game was put to bed in the 87^th minute when Stepjan Caban planted a shot that Jasmin Handanovič really should have been equal to. For fans of speculative long range shots, the highlights are here. Elsewhere, Mura beat Goria 1:0 and Triglav and Rudar drew 0:0.

Maribor’s defeat meant that Olimpija joined them at the top of the table on 21 points, and with the Viola not taking part in the midweek fixtures due to their Europa League tie with Birmingham, Olimpija had the chance to take the top spot. Things didn’t exactly go to plan, however, in the 12^th round, when Gorica beat them 2:1 at home. I’m going to pick Stefan Smiljanič’s consolation (2:11 here), as my highlight, for the shear skill involved in heading that kind of goal. Gorica deserve credit nonetheless. Maribor have a game in hand over their closest challengers thanks to their European tie. That game is against Rudar, who can climb up to join Olimpija and Maribor at the top on 21 points if they beat the Viola in the rescheduled match.

Celje continued to turn things around, much in the way Koper continue to languish, when they beat the luckless Primorskan’s 2:1 away. Domžale beat a hard-working but ineffective Triglav Kranj 2:0, with the opening goal a bobbling free kick and the suspicion of off-side from the single camera view (never worth relying on, frankly).  The fourth match of the round saw Nafta and Mura share the spoils of the season’s second Prekmurian derby 2:2.

Tonight sees Maribor able to take their mind off their precarious position on top of the Prva Liga as they return to Europa League action. Their opponents this time are the blue side of Birmingham. Birmingham City also lost their opening Group H match, although they were facing last year’s beaten finalists Braga. With both sides licking their wounds, Maribor (if they’re fans of foolishness) might take some solace in the random connections between Birmingham and the Viola’s previous vanquished British opponents Rangers: recent manager Alex McLeish, winger Chris Burke and former captain Barry Ferguson each have strong links to both clubs. All of which, of course, will have nothing to do with the outcome tonight (unlike the fact that both Birmingham and Rangers play in a similar shade of blue)…