Slovenia round-up: Leaders suffer shock loss

Slovenian First League leaders NK Olimpija slumped to a surprise 2-1 home defeat against lowly NK Rudar Velenje at the weekend.

Shock loss
Olimpija had lost only one of their 16 league matches prior to the encounter but were always up against it after falling behind to a Josip Ribic goal on 21 minutes. Their task was made doubly difficult when Zeljko Spasojevic struck on 67 minutes to put Rudar 2-0 up.

Rudar seventh
Blaz Puc pulled a goal back eight minutes from time but it was too little too late to prevent a defeat. The win lifts Rudar level on 19 points with seventh-placed NK Ljubljana.

Publikum denied
NK Publikum, in second position, missed the chance to go level with Olimpija after being held to a scoreless draw by NK Koper. The top two meet next weekend in the last round of matches before the winter break.

Ten-goal thriller
The match of the weekend, however, was a thrilling 5-5 draw between mid-table NK Smartno and NK Maribor, with both sides matching each other blow for blow in a pulsating encounter.

Ljubljana leak five
Elsewhere, NK Kortona went down 3-2 against NK Gorica, NK Primorje easedto a 5-0 victory over NK Ljubljana and NK Mura overcame NK Dravograd 3-2.