September 27, 2020
Sunday 27th, September
FK Banga Gargdzai 1-2 FK Kauno Zalgiris ( att : 800 )
Kauno kept the pressure on the top two with a hard fought victory in Gargdzai for their fourth win in a row. They were fortunate to be leading 1-0 at half-time, only Emmanuel David will know if his flick was intentional, but his efforts to control a pass resulted in him putting Sirgedas clear and his finish gave Banga keeper Driomovas no chance. Banga striker Darius Zubauskas must have run over a black cat on his way to the stadium as either side of the Kauno goal he saw powerful shots hit the woodwork, the first of which, hit the post, then the bar and finally the other post before bouncing to the Kauno keeper.
Kauno were rarely troubled in the second half but it took until added on time before they sealed the win. Veteran Linas Pilibaitis was put clear on goal and although his shot was weak, Driomovas could only parry it, and the slide from Pilibaitis was just about strong enough to send the ball trickling between the keeper and the post and into the net for the ex-Hearts man’s 8th goal of the season.
There was still time for a consolation goal for Banga, Rudinilson mis-headed a long free-kick across the face of the Kauno goal straight to Rakauskas, who made no mistake.
Ultimately, Zalgiris made hard work of winning a match at one point looked like being a cricket score. Their first goal came in the 17th minute from the penalty spot after a handball. Videmont’s effort was well saved by Broetto diving to his right, but the referee ruled that the keeper was off his line and ordered a re-take. Videmont made no mistake with his second attempt for his 10th goal of the season.
There was no disputing the second goal though, Antal picked up a loose ball, turned and sent an unstoppable 25 yard shot into the top corner with Broetto helpless. The Panevezys goal then led a charmed life as Zalgiris missed a host of chances, but the home side eventually made it 3-0 on the stroke of half-time when Kaluderovic spun round his marker and neatly chipped the keeper as he came out and committed himself.
Panevezys got back into the match after 60 minutes when the referee adjusted that Elivelto’s fall to the ground was a foul and Veliulis despatched the penalty. They then thought they had pulled another goal back soon after, but Elivelto’s header was ruled offside. However, Panevezys did get a second goal with 7 minutes remaining, Greek midfielder Kozoronis was allowed to run forward unchallenged before sending a stunning 25 yard effort curling the top far corner, matching Antal’s earlier strike for Zalgiris.
With the clock ticking the normally reliable Berkovec fumbled a low cross from Veliulis, but the ball fell kindly to a Zalgiris defender and the danger passed for Zalgiris to hang on for the three points.
The Riteriai coach probably had a game-plan of “keep it tight at the start, lads”. If so, the plan was blown apart after 90 seconds by Gorobsov’s sensational 20+ yard swerving effort. Thereafter the gap between top and bottom was emphasised as Suduva strolled to an easy victory, and the margin could have been a lot more. Croatian striker Josip Tadic helped himself to 4 goals, moving joint top in the goal-scoring chart in doing so.
Riteriai’s cause wasn’t helped 25 minutes later by keeper Paukste charging off his line to bring down Sabala as he was heading harmlessly to the bye-line to give away a penalty for Tadic’s first of the evening. A minute later Sabala increased the lead, perhaps fortunate to not be penalised for foul on the defender, and Tadic made it 4-0 five minutes later with a tap-in from 6 feet. Against the run of play, Borovskij ghosted past the sleeping defenders to prod home from two yards at the far post to make it 4-1 at half-time.
Ritterial managed to prevent Suduva from scoring for
the first 30 minutes of the second half but three goals in the last 15 minutes,
including two more for Tadic, who was left totally unmarked for two simple
finishes, wrapped up a satisfactory evening for the champions.
Top Goalscorers
Next Fixtures – Round 18
Saturday 2nd October
FK Riteriai vs FK Banga Gargdzai ( 19.00 local/17.00 UK )
Sunday 3rd October
FK Kauno Zalgiris vs FK Zalgiris vs ( 15.00 local/13.00 UK )
FK Suduva vs FK Panevezys ( 17.00 local/15.00 UK )
With just 3 matches each left to play, neither FK Zalgiris or Kauno can afford to drop any points. A draw would mean Suduva could lose their remaining matches with FK Zalgiris and Kauno and still win the league by winning their other two matches. A win for FK Zalgiris though could lead to their home match against Suduva on the final day of the season deciding the title if Suduva have failed to beat Kauno !
No comments:
Post a Comment