April 29, 30 & 1 May 2021
Due to the May Day celebrations, Week 7 starts a day earlier than normal with one match on Thursday, and no matches on Sunday.
Shakhtyor and BATE look to have straightforward fixtures so are likely remain the top 2 sides after the round has been completed. The chasing pack all look to have challenging tasks and will need to play well to prevent the gap to the leaders from widening.
FK Slutsk vs Dinamo Brest ( Thursday at 16.00 UK time )
Dinamo have won all three of their away matches without conceding a goal. Slutsk have only played twice at home but are unbeaten. They have played well at times but were disappointing at Slavia, and that may be a more typical barometer of their level. 0-1
Result : 1-1. Perhaps a more typical barometer of the level of Dinamo Brest ! A fairly uninspiring game and a tale of two free-kicks. Bocherov game Slutsk the lead in the 36th minute as Dinamo keeper Stepanov was wrong footed expecting the free-kick to go over the wall, but the shot went to the other side, although close enough to for the normally reliable keeper to have saved.
Bilenkyi’s swerving free-kick brought Dinamo level mid-way through the second half but again the keeper should have done a lot better. Slutsk will probably see this as two points dropped, whilst Dinamo will see it as a hard won point to preserve their unbeaten record.
Rukh Brest vs FK Slavia Mozyr ( Friday at 13.30 UK time )
Rukh were torn apart in Soligorsk, after just starting to look as if they might live up to the high expectations of them. Slavia were much better in beating Slutsk than in their previous matches, but are likely to remain pointless away from Mozyr. 2-1
Result : 2-1. Rukh were far from impressive but managed to eek out a narrow victory over a Slavia side who probably deserved more from this match. After an even, competitive first half, Jovic’s 25 yard strike on the stroke of half-time gave Rukh the lead at the break.
However, Slavia notched a deserved equalise with 15 minutes to play when Sliusar kept his cool to beat a covering defender to slot home from 10 yards. Rukh’s winner 8 minutes from time was slightly fortunate, a corner beating the Slavia defenders and hitting the chest of Kiki a few yards from the goal-line.
Despite late pressure from Slavia, Rukh held on for the three points.
Dinamo Minsk vs Energetik BGU Minsk ( Friday at 15.30 UK time )
Energetik have been defensively solid this season and could make life difficult for Dinamo. However, if the Minsk side continue their form from last week they should win comfortably. 2-0
Result : 2-0. Ultimately a comfortable win for Dinamo, with Mbengue sparkling after a creative performance, even if wasteful in front of goal. Energetik had little answer to his speed and movement, and despite missing several chances, Mbengue’s performance did enough to suggest Dinamo will be back amongst the championship race if he can maintain this form.
After Mbengue had forced a couple of fine saves from Energetik keeper Sadovskiy, Poe gave Dinamo the lead on the stroke of half-time after cleverly beating a defender and then beating Sadovskiy at his near post.
Mbengue put the crowning glory on his performance by getting on the end of a cross from Poe to head into the far corner three minutes into the second half.
Energetik threatened only occasionally, with their best chances coming from sloppy defending from Dinamo, but will probably be happy to have only lost 0-2 after the number of chances Dinamo missed,
FK Vitebsk vs FK Gomel ( Friday at 17.30 UK time )
Vitebsk have been involved in 4 Nil-Nil draws in 6 matches, and their games have featured just three goals in total. For all their fearless attacking football, Gomel may flounder against the Big Blue Bus parked at home. 0-0
Result : 0-0. Perhaps the least surprising result of the week-end, Gomel will probably feel exhausted from their endeavours to win this match, and might have been more successful had Yuendkov’s 25 yard effort in the first half crashed of the bar and fell more fortunately to an on-rushing attacker.
Despite their best efforts, both sides cancelled each other out, and although it wasn’t the worst game to watch, 0-0 felt inevitable from very early on
Neman Grodno vs FK Isloch Minsk ( Saturday at 12.00 UK time )
Neman are surprisingly in a relegation berth and their main problem is scoring goals, just two so far. They were awful at Energetik, but nearly sneaked a win with a spirited last 10 minutes. Isloch beat those below them and lose to sides above, but may have to settle for an away draw. 1-1
Result : 1-2. The Neman slump continued as Isloch again beat a side below them in the table. For Neman supporters it was almost Groundhog day again. After falling behind in the 3rd minute to Komarovsky’s fantastic finish on the run from outside the area, Neman played some nice football but were reduced to shooting optimistically from 35+ yard free-kicks. Isloch looked untroubled and doubled their lead in the 62nd minute when the referee awarded a penalty for a handball by Sadovinchiy which Yusov converted despite Dudar getting a hand to the spot-kick.
Isloch almost immediately added a third, but the home side rallied, and they thought they had pulled a goal back, only to be denied by the linesman flagging for offside against Yakimov after had headed home close to the post. However, they did score the 78th minute through a penalty of their own from Zabelin, but the expected grandstand onslaught never really arrived, and Isloch held on pretty easily to take the three points.
Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino vs FK Minsk ( Saturday at 14.00 UK time )
Minsk have won twice away from home, albeit against the bottom two. Despite needing a fortunate late penalty to claim a point, Torpedo played fairly well at Gomel, and will be looking to start climbing the table. 1-0
Result : 2-1. Torpedo made a bright start and after a few near misses took the lead in the 12th minute after Monteiro’s clever turn and calm finish from 8 yards.
Minsk slowly got into the game and they thought they had equalised in the 34th minute through Zenkovich after Bushma had fumbled a long distance shot from Zinovich, but unfortunately for Minsk, Zenkovich was well offside. Minsk got back on level terms in the 53rd minute, although there was an element of fortune to the goal. Bogomolskiy did well to get to the by-line but his low cross was put past his own goal-keeper by Odeobo.
Antilevksi should have restored Torpedo’s lead two minutes later but he could only spoon a rebound pushed in his path high over the bar. The winning goal for Torpedo did come another two minutes later though as Kirilenko robbed Yakushevich of possession and his left footed shot fortunately bobbled over outstretched hand of Prishivalko.
Minsk’s hope of retrieving a point were effectively ended in the 78th minute when a red card was shown to Zenkovich for a reckless tackle on Khachaturyan. Torpedo had chances to make the score line more emphatic but it remained 2-1.
FK Sputnik vs Shakhtyor Soligorsk ( Saturday at 16.00 UK time )
Away banker. Sputnik have lost 5 out of 6 whilst Shakhtyor have a 100% record, and should make it 7 wins out of 7. 0-4
Result : 1-2. Shakhtyor preserved their 100% record but made heavy weather in overcoming the league’s bottom side, missing numerous chances and forcing several fine saves from Sputnik keeper Rudenok. They made a number of changes to their starting line-up, giving some of their fringe players some game time, and this may also have had an effect on their performance.
It took Shakhtyor 23 minutes to open the scoring. Darboe should have scored from 4 yards but hit the post, but Debelko was on hand to put away the rebound from a similar distance. Sputnik caused a major surprise by equalising 10 minutes later. Vukmanic, on loan from Shakhtyor cross from the right was played back into the centre where Nicaraguan goal machine Ariagner Smith scored with an acrobatic scissor kick.
Parity only lasted 4 minutes though, as sloppy defending by Sputnik allowed Sachivko to prod home from 4 yards, although had he missed a penalty for a foul on Kendysh would almost certainly have been awarded.
Despite all their pressure Shakhtyor failed to score again, and Sputnik looked like they could score on their occasional breaks. The closest to a further goal came 7 minutes from the end when Sputnik keeper Rudenok attempted to control a back-pass but the ball rolled under his foot. Fortunately for the keeper he was able to recover just in time to clear at the expense of a throw-in.
BATE Borisov vs FK Smorgon ( Saturday at 18.00 UK time )
Home banker. Smorgon won the relegation 6 pointer against Sputnik, but are unlikely to cause too much trouble for free scoring BATE. 5-0
Result : 1-0. In the end Smorgon came close to snatching a point but overall BATE deserved to win. However, this was far from a convincing performance from the record title winners.
BATE started as if there would be an avalanche of goals but it took until the 12th minute for them to open the scoring. Dragun’s low cross-cum shot from the left was met by Skavysh who turned the ball goalwards, and unfortunately for Smorgon the ball went through keeper Scherbachenya’s legs and trickled over the line. The bombardment of the Smorgon goal continued but the visitors managed to get to the break still only one goal behind.
The Smorgon goal continued to led a charmed life, but in the last 20 minutes Smorgon started to sense the possibility of a shock result, and BATE keeper Kudravets was twice forced into making smart saves to preserve the lead, and in the 89th minute a skilful counter-attack saw the ball delivered to the far post, but the sliding Frantsev under pressure could only steer the ball over the bar from 4 yards.
Summary :