Polish First Division wrap: Winning starts for Lech, Polonia

Lech Poznan opened the new Ekstraklasa season with a 5-0 thrashing of promoted LKS Lodz on Friday, while Polonia Warsaw also won.

Lech, who finished fifth in the Polish top flight last season, secured the emphatic away win thanks to a hat-trick from Latvia forward Artjoms Rudnevs.

Rudnevs opened the scoring 21 minutes into the match at the Stadion GKS-u.

Lech were gifted a second just three minutes later when LKS defender Cezary Stefanczyk scored an unfortunate own goal.

Bosnian midfielder Semir Stilic then bagged the third goal with the match only 30 minutes old, sending Lech in at half-time with a comfortable lead.

It was Rudnevs, top-scorer in his first campaign for Lech last season, who was the stand out in Belchatow, netting twice in the space of four second-half minutes to complete his hat-trick.

There was an element of fortune about the 23-year-old’s final goal.

His header rebounded off the post and then bounced just over the line, but it was the slice of luck of his admirable performance deserved.

That goal made it 5-0 to Lech, an excellent start to the season for 2009/10 champions, but a baptism of fire for newcomers LKS.

Also on Friday, Polonia Warsaw opened their account with a 1-0 win at home to Lechia Gdansk.

Brazilian midfielder Bruno Coutinho struck the winner for the home side in the 79th minute at the Stadion Polonii.