June 5, 6, & 7, 2020
Another interesting round of
fixtures in week 12 of the 2020 Belarus Premier League. Again the match involving Shakhtyor looks to
be the pick of the week, as they host surprise package Energetik, with both
sides looking for the win to keep the pressure on BATE. The league leaders are
likely to have a hard time at a well organised Vitebsk side.
At the bottom, both Smolevichy
and Belshina look to have good chances of registering their first wins of
the campaign whilst elsewhere Slutsk and Torpedo play what the Dutch call a sub-topper.
FK Smolevichy STI vs FK Gorodeya ( Friday at 17.00 UK
time )
Sounding like a broken record, Smolevichy’s
luck must surely change soon. Gorodeya are on a poor run and have slipped to
third from bottom, but they don’t give away many goals and will be looking to
score first and then defend. If Smolevichy score first they should go on to
win. 1-0
Result : 4-1. Perhaps not too much of a surprise that Smolevichy recorded their first win but the winning margin was. After the first goal the result never appeared in doubt, and at times Smolevichy looked like Barcelona as they repeatedly tore through Gorodeya's previously mean defence. Only a number of solid saves from Igor Dovgyallo kept the score down. Alarm bell must now be ringing in Gorodeya.
FK Slutsk vs Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino ( Saturday at 12.00 UK time )
FK Slutsk vs Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino ( Saturday at 12.00 UK time )
Slutsk have now gone 4 games without a win and need
a win if they are to rekindle any title aspirations. Fourth placed Torpedo are
difficult to breakdown and their 2-2-2 away record matches the home record of
Slutsk. 1-1
Result : 1-1. A result that did neither side any favours. Torpedo looked to have ground out an efficient if not spectacular victory until Serdyuk was left free to smash home a knock down from six yards in the 90th minute.A fair result on the balance of play though.
FK Isloch Minsk vs Rukh Brest ( Saturday at 14.00
UK time )
Both sides will be looking to bounce back from
defeats last week and although Isloch have won 5 out of 7 home games, Rukh have
only lost one out of 6 away. 1-1
Result : 1-1. Two goals within less than a minute midway through the second half. Komarovskiy's piledriver gave Isloch a share of the points, which could have been three points but for Stepanov's outstanding save in the 94th minute. After a slow start to the season, Rukh's Diallo looks to be developing into a really impressive signing, that 2 in 2 games now.
FK Slavia Mozyr
vs Neman Grodno ( Saturday at 16.00 UK time )
Neman haven’t travelled well this season, and
Slavia will be looking to improve a home record that shows just one win, albeit
against BATE. They only have one home though so Slavia should see off Neman. 2-1
Result : 1-3. Two consecutive wins have propelled Neman from the danger zone to the top half of the table. For once Kadimyan isn't making the headlines as Serbian Zoran Marusic scored a hat-trick. For Slavia, Narh's trickery brought them to 1-1, and it could have been a different story had Sliusar not missed a sitter when the scores were level.
Dinamo Brest vs FK Minsk ( Saturday at 18.00 UK time )
Dinamo will be confident after finding their
scoring boots in the Brest derby. With two games in hand, Minsk are in a
misleading place in the table, but they are unlikely to get any joy against the
Champions. 3-1
Result : 6-1. Dinamo served notice that they may still have a role to play in the Championship race with this destruction of FK Minsk. After falling behind to an early goal, Dinamo responded with at times some irrepressible football, scoring 5 times in the second half with a willingness to get the ball forward quickly matched with pacy running, intelligent movement and some outstanding finishing.
FK Vitebsk vs BATE Borisov ( Sunday at 14.00 UK
time )
Vitebsk are a talented and organised side, and will
present a stern challenge to rampant BATE. However, it is a brave man who goes
against the league leaders so expect BATE to find a way though. 0-1
Result : 2-2.
BATE profited from two goalkeeping errors from Vitebsk keeper Gushchenko to be leading 2-0 with 12 minutes to play. BATE's keeper Chichkan then returned the favour with a clearance straight to a Vitebsk player. Ksenofontov's 89th minute equalizer following a strong run by Carioca gave Vitebsk a deserved point. BATE will be kicking themselves for letting this slip though.
Belshina Bobruisk vs Dinamo Minsk ( Sunday at 16.00
UK time )
Another broken record with Belshina also playing
well but failing to win. They have a good chance against ailing Dinamo, who
have slipped to 12th in the table and are struggling for goals.
Dinamo might be looking for yet another manager if they lose this so might edge a close encounter. 1-2
Result : 0-4.
Ruthless Dinamo despatched hapless Belshina in a performance similiar to their earlier win at Smolevichy. Vladislav Klimovich is the starman with a goal, two assists and a hand in the other goal.They now need to do this against the better teams in the league.
Shakhtyor Soligorsk vs Energetik BGU Minsk ( Sunday
at 18.00 UK time )
Third vs Second meet in the match of the round. However,
Shakhtyor are on a roll and have conceded only three times all season. After
BATE, Energetik are the league’s highest scorers, and their counter-attacking style
could be well suited against today’s opponents. Shakhtyor should be too good
though. 2-0
Result : 1-0. Lisakovich's early strike was enough to secure an important victory for Shakhtyor. In truth the winning margins should have been greater as Shakhtyor hit the post twice and wasted several good chances. This nearly proved costly as Bakic missed a great chance to equalize with 5 minutes to go. Yuri Kendysh had another outstanding game for Shakhtyor, dominating the midfield.Shakhtyor now have 10 clean sheets from 12 matches.
Summary :