Results:

Cracovia	2-3	Ruch Chorzów	17 października, 15:00 (10.000)
Saïdi Ntibazonkiza 56, Łukasz Mierzejewski 82 - Maciej Sadlok 42, Maciej Jankowski 45, Łukasz Janoszka 66
Górnik Zabrze	1-0	Wisła Kraków	17 października, 17:00 (8.000)
Aleksander Kwiek 83
Jagiellonia Białystok	3-0	Polonia Bytom	16 października, 17:00 (6.000)
Tomasz Frankowski 29, 48, Tadas Kijanskas 90
Korona Kielce	3-1	GKS Bełchatów	16 października, 19:15 (10.251)
Zlatko Tanevski 19 (s), Maciej Tataj 55, Andradina 76 (k) - Maciej Małkowski 51
Lechia Gdańsk	1-0	Arka Gdynia	17 października, 17:15 (11.811)
Piotr Wiśniewski 78
Lech Poznań	0-1	Zagłębie Lubin	16 października, 18:15 (22.000)
Mateusz Bartczak 74
Śląsk Wrocław	2-2	Polonia Warszawa	16 października, 14:45 (6.000)
Łukasz Piątek 42 (s), Przemysław Kaźmierczak 90 - Dariusz Pietrasiak 59, Bruno 75
Widzew Łódź	0-1	Legia Warszawa	15 października, 20:00 (9.600)
Ivica Vrdoljak 16

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We lost 1-0 to newly promoted Gornik Zabrze today.

Not good, we need to start getting competitive soon, 9 games have already passed, and Wisla Krakow (along with Legia Warszawa I must add) are trailing behind table leaders Jagiellonia Bialystok (whom today recorded a 3-0 win over Polonia Bytom thanks to a double from Tomasz Frankowski) and Korona Kielce (whom also recorded a strong 3-1 victory over GKS Belchatow, who themselves stand 4th in the table).

Elsewhere, Slask Wroclaw's Kazmierczak scores in the dieing minutes to equalize against Polonia Warszawa, 2-2, Lech Poznan record another surprising loss infront of 22,000 fans, this time Zagielbie Lubin, thanks to a 74th minute strike by Bartczak. Cracovia and Ruch Chorzow battled it out, with Ruch coming out on top 3-2 infront of 10 thousand Cracovites, and Lechia Gdansk beat Arka Gdynia 1-0 in the Baltic Sea Derby thanks to a strike by Wisniewski late in the second half. The derby was attended by around 12,000 fans from the Baltic Tri-City.

It is rather strange to see Jagiellonia Bialystok and Korona Kielce leading the table, rather than usual favorites Wisla Krakow, Legia Warszawa and largely disappointing Lech Poznan. Jagiellonia have started the season strong, recording 7 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss with a total of 22 points. Korona Kielce follows with 20 points, Lechia Gdansk with 17 points, followed with GKS Belchatow with 16 points and newly promoted Gornik Zabrze with 15 points. Wisla and Legia are 7th and 8th respectively with 12 points each, Lech Poznan 14th with 8 points and Slask Wroclaw in the relegation zone with 6 points. Cracovia are bottom of the table with 4 points after 9 games played. (With Lech Poznan and Polonia Warszawa with 1 game less)

An issue with the Polish League is that it is highly competitive. At the start of the season, a good 10 teams have a chance to compete in the title race, usually this would be a great thing, bringing out much unpredictability and excitement throughout the season, like in the German Bundesliga, but, unlike Germany, Polish Ekstraklasa only has 16 teams, and outside of those 10 or so potential European Spot contenders, there are about 6 or so decent teams, One of which will be relegated at the end of the season, with another fighting a relegation playoff with Polish 1st Liga Second Place team. Think about the shock of how Newcastle got relegated at the end of 2007-08 season, now think about that happening at the end of every season. Kind of disappointing, no? It's the reason why Polish League desperatly needs to have an expansion to 18 or even 20 teams. That way back-fodder like Polonia Bytom, Odra Wodzislaw and Piast Gliwice get relegated, instead of class teams like Gornik Zabrze and Widzew Lodz, who just had one mediocre season and got relegated.

This season, Cracovia Krakow are sitting in the bottom of the table, along with Slask Wroclaw, and Lech Poznan at third. If this was England, this would be comparable to Everton sitting at 18th, Aston Villa sitting on 17th, and Manchester United sitting on 16th.

Another thing I would like to talk about before posting this blog entry is I am surprised, impressed and proud of the attendances of the Polish League this season. For an example, 22k visited Lech Poznan this weekend to face their 0-1 loss to Zagielbie Lubin. 20K at games was unheard two seasons ago, now Legia and Lech have been regularly reaching above this line. 12k went to the Lechia-Arka derby, while 10k arrived to support their sides in Kielce, Cracovia and Lodz. Jagiellonia have been disappointing this week with their attendance, but in past weeks have reached the 10k number as well. The only team not getting the supporter vibe is Wroclaw, surprisingly enough seeing as they will be hosting matches in their new 40K+ stadium in 2012, them being relegation candidates isn't a nice thing either.

Next Week fixtures will be;

Arka Gdynia - GKS Bełchatów 23 października, 17:00
na Narodowym Stadionie Rugby
Górnik Zabrze - Lech Poznań 24 października, 14:45
Korona Kielce - Legia Warszawa 22 października, 20:00
Polonia Bytom - Śląsk Wrocław 22 października, 17:45
Polonia Warszawa - Cracovia 23 października, 14:45
Widzew Łódź - Jagiellonia Białystok 23 października, 19:15
Wisła Kraków - Lechia Gdańsk 23 października, 18:15
Zagłębie Lubin - Ruch Chorzów 24 października, 17:00

Due to stadium construction in Gdansk in preparation of the EURO, Gdansk will host their match in the Rugby Stadium of Gdansk.