May 28, 29 & 30, 2021
Week 11 sees Shakhtyor travel for a rare away fixture to face a credible test to their 100% record at Torpedo. Two of the potential candidates for European football, Dinamo Minsk and Rukh meet, whilst there is another key clash at the bottom as Neman host Sputnik.
In the Belarus Cup Final, BATE edged to a 2-1 victory over Isloch to retain the trophy in front of 6,253 spectators in Gomel. On balance it was probably a fair result as BATE were on top for most of the match, but they were hanging on in the last 10 minutes as Isloch desperately searched for an equaliser. BATE had taken a first half lead, with Dragun reacting the quickest to hook the ball left-footed into the net as it bounced around in the 6 yard box but Isloch were back on level terms in the 60th minute thanks to Komarovskiy’s superb free-kick. Questions have to be asked about the positioning of BATE keeper Chichkan though. The winning goal came in the 77th minute, when Rybak dived to head home an in-swinging free-kick from about 6 yards out.
Isloch miss out on playing in Europe for the first time, with BATE’s win giving the final place in the Europa Conference to Dinamo Brest thanks to their fourth place finish in the league last season.
FK Vitebsk vs FK Smorgon ( Friday at 16.10 UK time )
Smorgon have taken only one point from 7 away matches, whilst Vitebsk are unbeaten at home and are unbeaten in 7 matches. More misery for the Bears. 2-0
Result : 5-0. An embarrassingly easy win for goal-happy Vitebsk, who have ended their goal famine with 12 goals in 4 matches. Smorgon were truly awful and had little answer to Brazilian midfielder Diego Carioca, who helped himself to a goal and three assists. The rot started for Smorgon in the 15th minute when slack marking by Savostyanov allowed Wanderson to get goal side of him to glance home Diego Carioca’s free-kick. It got worse for the Bears 15 minutes later when a sliced clearance fell to Diego Carioca, who was given time and space to advance and send a curling effort into the corner of the goal.
Vitebsk third came 4 minutes into the second half. Diego Carioca was left totally alone inside the Smorgon penalty area but although his cushioned header should have been buried by Teverov, Matveenko was queueing up alongside him to score. Twenty minutes later the Brazilian drew the covering defender and released Matveenko for his second. Chervyakov added a 5th to complete the rout.
Dinamo Minsk vs Rukh Brest ( Friday at 18.10 UK time )
Dinamo are reported to be in turmoil after rumours of enforced salary cuts, but the players have so far been unaffected by this, at least on the pitch. Rukh have rarely lived up to their big reputation and have lost their last two away matches, albeit at Shakhtyor and BATE. 1-0
Result : 0-1. Things go from bad to worse for Dinamo, as coach Leonid Kuchuk resigned after their third defeat of the season, and their second at home. His departure, on top of the Government enforced salary cap, will probably see many of their recent signings leave the club, with perhaps messy legal cases over unpaid salaries.
As expected, the game was a tight, even affair decided by a massive error by Dinamo keeper Khatkevich in the 55th minute, who allowed an innocuous cross to slip through his hands, and Diallo’s intelligent and unselfish header across the goal allowed Laptev to dive and head home into the empty net from a few yards. Chasing a game is not Dinamo’s strongest suit, and Rukh saw out the game with relative ease to take the three points.
Dinamo came close to scoring in the first half when Kuzlov hit the post with a 20 yard effort, and although Lozhkin turned the ball back into the unguarded goal, he was rightly ruled offside.
Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino vs Shakhtyor Soligorsk ( Saturday at 12.30 UK time )
Only Shakhtyor’s 4th away league fixture of the season and despite three wins they haven’t looked too impressive away from Soligorsk, and they were knocked out of the Cup at Isloch. Torpedo are always difficult opponents in Zhodino, and Shakhtyor’s 100% record could come to an end. 1-1
Result : 0-1. Shakhtyor marched on after an 11th consecutive victory, it’s their title to lose now. Another top quality finish from Darboe separated the two sides, running on to Ivanovic’s back-heel to thump home from the edge of the area, making it 11 for the season,
Torpedo battled hard, and Gabovda came close to equalising but his shot across the face of the goal hit the post and bounced out, with Gutor beaten. Their challenge came to end after Khachaturyan’s wild and reckless foul on Szoke resulted in a second yellow card.
BATE Borisov vs FK Slavia Mozyr ( Saturday at 15.00 UK time )
BATE have won all six home matches so far, and despite not having looked great they have usually had one outstanding spell in the games to do enough to win. A repeat is likely against struggling Slavia. 3-1
Result : 3-0. A routine home win for BATE, which would have been much greater but for a string of outstanding saves by Slavia keeper Baronovski. However, he was powerless to prevent BATE taking the lead in the 18th minute, when Yablonski played the ball across the face of the goal to give Skavysh a far post tap-in. Last season’s league’s top scorer completely missed his kick, but fortunately for him the ball hit his standing leg and trickled over the line. Umarov add a second on the stroke of half-time with an unstoppable free-kick into the top corner,
Despite their dominance in the second half, BATE only added one more, Skavysh being released to shot under the outstretched leg of Baronovski
Neman Grodno vs Sputnik Rechitsa ( Saturday at 17.00 UK time )
Another vital game at the bottom for Neman who have taken just one point from 5 home matches. However, they are not playing too badly and are being let down by the inability to finish off some good approach play. This should change against the bottom placed side. 2-0
Result : 2-2. A bizarre but enjoyable game. Covid hit Sputnik appealed to have the match postponed, but the Belarus FA insisted the game be played. Sputnik arrived with only 14 players and missing five starters from their last match, including Rudenok and Smith. Many people expected a walk-over for Neman, and Bet365 even stopped offering odds.
However, the game took an unexpected twist in the 15th minute when Kontsedailov’s prod past Dudar was rolling into an empty net, but with two defenders and a Sputnik player chasing after it, Gavrilovich was adjusted to have prevented Sanets from scoring, resulting in a red card for the Neman defender and a penalty to Sputnik. Kontsedailov converted the spot kick, and spurred on by the man advantage the lively Sanets, in his first appearance of the season, added a second before the break, side-footing home Kholodinskiy’s inviting ball across the 6 yard box.
Neman looked a beaten team at half-time, but two changes at the interval breathed new life into the home side, and Kouadio quickly pulled a goal back. Sputnik’s stand-in keeper Pyatigorets made a number of decent saves to preserve Sputnik’s lead, but Neman drew level in the 77th minute when Kurlovich put into his own net, although Zabelin would almost certainly have scored had he not done so. The final stages were end to end, but neither side could muster the winning goal.
Sputnik will have mixed feeling about the result, on the one hand a point was probably unexpected after all the Covid turmoil, but after leading 2-0 against 10 men they may feel it was 2 points dropped and chance to move out of the bottom 2 gone astray. Neman are still to win at home.
FK Gomel vs FK Minsk ( Sunday at 12.00 UK time )
Gomel have taken 10 points from their 4 home matches, and despite Minsk having a solid record this season, Gomel should continue their exceptional start to the season. 2-0
Result : 5-0. Another fabulous performance by Gomel to underline they are serious contenders to qualify for a place in Europe. Andrei Solovei was again the main man, celebrating his first call up to the national squad with a goal and three assists to match Vitebsk’s Diego Carioca on Friday.
Gomel also made light of a red card in the 43rd minute to Igor Zayats for a deliberate handball to prevent Lopez from having a clear run on goal, and added three second half goals through Podubey, Levitskiy and Kostrov despite the man disadvantage.
It might have all been different had Bogomolskiy not missed a great chance to give Minsk the lead in the first minute but two minutes later Sajcic’s superb shot put Gomel ahead and Solovei’s 22nd minute strike put Gomel in firm control.
Pillars missed two good chances for a consolation goal for Minsk.
FK Slutsk vs FK Isloch Minsk ( Sunday at 14.00 UK time )
A tough one to call. Slutsk have not been getting the results that perhaps some of their play deserved but they are unbeaten at home from 4 games although only Torpedo were beaten. Isloch are the highest scorers away from home in the league, and should bounce back from the disappointment of their defeat in the Cup Final. 1-2
Result : 2-1. Slutsk gave themselves some much needed breathing space from the bottom three with this win. Isloch started brightly and hit the woodwork twice in a minute around the 25 minute mark, from Morozov and Dmitry Lisakovich.
Eight minutes later Alfred pounced on a dreadful pass to race clear on goal and he calmly finished to give Slutsk the lead. The Nigerian striker doubled the lead with 15 minutes to play, Gvazava’s through ball enabled him to round the keeper and slot home from a tight angle.
The ever dependable Komarovskiy pulled a goal back for Isloch with 10 minutes to go, but despite some late pressure, Slutsk held on for the three points.
Dinamo Brest vs Energetik BGU Minsk ( Sunday at 16.00 UK time )
Dinamo are unbeaten in 4 tough home matches having played BATE, Dinamo Minsk, Vitebsk and Gomel, and despite scoring only 2 goals in those games, should have enough to overcome a struggling Energetik side that has taken only one point on the road. 1-0
Result : 0-1. Dinamo slumped to a second consecutive defeat without scoring. In a fairly dull match, Energetik were the most creative side in the first half, and Bashilov hit the bar with a long range effort. The visitors deservedly took the lead in the 56th minute when Artem Vasiljev neatly turned home Yudchits’ clipped ball into the centre of the Dinamo penalty area.
Dinamo finally stirred but the lack of potency up front was evident. Three chances fell to Shestyuk, and he was unlucky to see one effort blocked by the shoulder of a covering defender, and Energetik keeper Rusanov needed to alert to make a diving save to keep out a deflection from team mate Sokol in added on time.
After all the early optimism, Dinamo now look to be facing a tough season
Summary :