Roses are...Orange? Watching Slovakia's Strugglers Do Battle

 

Let's rewind to 1st May 2024, and not just because it was my last day as a 28 year old on God's sweet Earth. No, in fact we must head east to Kosice, where Ruzomberok and Spartak Trnava will fight for the 2024 Slovak Cup. For Ružomberok, it was the chance to end an eighteen year wait for a Cup, whereas for Trnava, it was a chance to hold onto the trophy they'd beaten fierce rivals Slovan Bratislava to in the final for the last two seasons.

Ružomberok did come close in 2020, with an Alen Ozbolt penalty stopping them from getting their hands on the trophy, instead giving it to Slovan Bratislava. But perhaps in 2024, things would finally be different for Ružomberok, who were relative underdogs in terms of league position and standing, as well as other factors like town and club size. The only top flight side they'd seen off en route to the final was DAC Dunajska Streda, whereas Spartak needed to see of Košice, Michalovce, and Podbrezova. 

That said, Ružomberok were something of a bogey team for their opponents, winning the last five encounters between the two sides. So naturally, Adam Tučný's first half stoppage time goal turned out to be the winner for Ruža (the Rose), which gave them the opportunity of a return to Europe after a year's absence. Though yet to make a league stage, Ruža have welcomed the likes of Everton, Hajduk Split and Trabzonspor to Ružomberok in the last decade.

Now though, as you might have gathered from the title, these boys are in some deep hovno. Ružomberok find themselves in the bottom two, having lost both post-split games so far against Komarno and Michalovce. Though a cup semi-final is stll on the horizon, could be in a very sticky situation should they fail to beat Skalica. At present, they would face a derby against Tatran Liptovsky Mikulas in order to stay in the division. Failure to win that would see them drop into the second tier for the first time since 1997.

They may take encouragement from the fact no top division side has ever lost the play-off since its introduction, but then again there may be some wariness - someone has to be the first...

Ružomberok v Skalica - the pointiest of six pointers

I'd been told by a good friend of mine that the city of Ružomberok had a certain...smell to it due to the paper processing plant, and something to do with how that's processed. Having experienced the joys of walking through Welwyn Garden City with its wonderful dog food factory, I can't say I was overly concerned. 

I left Brno on the delayed 8:22 via Bratislava, arriving into Ružomberok at 13:24 having met up with friend of the blog, Alex at Bratslava station, despite the delay very much leading to a very last minute transfer that could have scuppered the whole trip. I dropped my stuff off at the accomodation before we had some time to briefly explore the town, and find out if it really did stink.

Well, actually no. The town was surprisingly pleasant given all that I'd heard about it. Before checking in, we'd also stopped at the excellently named Hamborghini for a burger and fries, both of which were great value and, well, great. A winning start so far.

A little mooch around the town and it's hard not to be impressed at the mountains the town sits in the shadow of first and foremost. But the town itself definitely shouldn't be dismissed. Okay, so some of the architecture may be a little run down, but for me it adds to the charm.

After checking in, we made our way to the stadium, which was a bit of a trek, most of which happened to be walking around the ground in order to find the right section, similar to what I'd done at Liberec last time. We did so just in time for kick off, and were treated to an absolute stormer of a game.

Given the formbook prior to the game, I was genuinely expecting an attritional 0-1 or a 1-1. Ružomberok had only won once since the break, with Skalica on an unbeaten run featuring a stingy defence. But that stingy defence were broken by Jan Hladík midway through the first half, who rounded the goalkeeper to tap home the opener for the hosts.

Both teams continued to play some wonderful football though, with Tomas Smejkal scoring an absolute screamer to level the scoring for Skalica - even some home fans applauded. So that meant two former Zbrojovka players were on the scoresheet. It's almost as if playing anywhere other than Zbrojovka can be beneficial for your career...

Amazingly, another former Zbrojvoka player made it 2-1 to Ružomberok in the form of Filip Souček, whose strike thundered in off the crossbar just a couple of minutes after the leveller. Hladík then got his 2nd and Ružomberok's 3rd after the break, before Oliver Podhorin made it a nervy last few minutes for the hosts. But they held on for a crucial win, which dragged the away side right back into the relegation mix. One thing is clear - nothing is settled in the Slovak relegation group just yet...

If you ever get the chance to tick this one off, I'd highly recommend it, particularly if you can combine it with skiing or hiking in the surrounding mountains. You may even be lucky enough to shake hands with the bear mascot in the way out, like I was.

Five things you didn't know about Ružomberok:

1.) The club won its only Slovak league title in 2005, thanks in no small part to Erik Jendrisek and his 30 goals. Amazingly, Jendrisek still plays now for Družstevník Liptovská Štiavnica at the age of 38, having started his career in 2003.

2.) 2005 also saw the club change colours from the traditional white, yellow and red, to their current orange and black stip. This was due to a takeover from Mondi Business Paper, who I imagine run the aforementioned paper plant in the town.

3.) Ružomberok have played in many European play offs over the years, though the closest they came to a league or group phrase was this season - an agonising loss to Noah of Armenia saw their European dreams crumble. 

4.) The town is named as such due to the prominence of wild roses that has once been in the region.

5.) The town also boasts the distinction of possessing the only Scout Museum in the country.