Rueters
Thursday, November 9, 2000; 12:48 PM

PRAGUE, Nov 9 – Ludek Zelenka's second half hat-trick helped Slavia Prague retrieve a one-goal deficit to defeat OFI Crete of Greece 4-1 on Thursday and advance to the UEFA Cup third round 6-3 on aggregate.

After a tentative first 45 minutes which saw few scoring chances, both teams opened up.

Wilson Munoz raised the hopes of OFI fans with a goal in the 60th minute, but instead of demoralising the Czechs it seemed to spur them on.

Substitute Tomas Kuchar equalised two minutes later and then, in the 70th minute, Zelenka deftly controlled a cross before eluding an OFI defender to curl a shot past Arian Beqai.

Eight minutes later, Zelenka made it 3-1 after exchanging passes with Petr Svancera and flicking the ball past Beqai. He slotted in his third goal of the game after collecting a ball from Jiri Lerch in the last minute.