Lugano have consolidated their position in the top spot of Switzerland's first football division, ahead of Lausanne and Grasshoppers Zurich.

In Saturday's matches, the Ticinese side beat Neuchatel Xamax 3-0. It was Neuchatel's fourth goalless home game.

Lausanne moved up to second place in the league table by winning against Aarau 2-1. Grasshoppers, meanwhile, advanced to third place after a nail-biting finish against Yverdon.

Until the 87th minute of the match Yverdon were one goal up on Grasshoppers but then Petric equalised, making it 2-2, followed up by a winning goal for the Zurich side from Smiljanic.

Basel failed again to get a victory in an away appearance on Saturday. They were only able to come away with a 1-1 draw against Servette Geneva. Basel's top scorer Jean-Michel Tchouga was on target for his team, while Geneva's Lonfat scored the equaliser.

A rather unusual incident occurred 15 minutes before the end of the match: referee Urs Meier limped from the pitch with an ankle strain and had to be replaced by Rudolf Käppeli who blew his whistle in the 97th minute.

On Sunday, FC Zurich will try to achieve their first win at long last in the season's seventh game. They will be taking on Lucerne.

swissinfo with agencies

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