Review : Belarus 2021 Women’s Premier League – Week 8

May 13 & 14, 2021

May 13, 2021

ABFF U19 2-2 FK Vitebsk

Neman Grodno 2-2 Zorka BGU ( att : 150 )

May 14, 2021

Dinamo BGU Minsk 17-0 Region of Gomel

Bobruichanka 8-0 Dinamo Brest ( att : 30 )

Dnepr Mogilev 0-2 FK Minsk ( att : 70 )

The first two matches of the round looked competitive on paper, and that was also the reality !

ABFF U19 were strengthened by the return on loan from FK Minsk of 17 year old centre-back Anna Mukha, presumably in order to get more game time, but Vitebsk quickly confirmed their on-going improvement by racing into a two goal lead. First, ex-international Elena Buzinova showed her class in skipping past her marker to shoot left-footed into the top corner, after which Natalia Vasilyeva, with two long range efforts already to her credit this season, delivered a cross-cum shot over the keeper to make it 2-0 after just 26 minutes.

ABFF U19 could have been forgiven for crumbling after such a start, but with a minute Yana Domin cut-back in from the left to give the Vitebsk keeper no chance with a superb finish across the goal. With their tails up, ABFF U19 pressed for the equaliser, which duly arrived just before half-time when Kuntsevich shot home after Vitebsk failed to clear a corner.

ABFF U19 thought they had taken the lead when Makeychik’s long range effort hit the bar and Fomchenko skillfully put the ball past Vitebsk keeper Kozlova. Unfortunately, the linesman’s flag was raised for offside. Tatiana Nestyukovich also came close to giving ABFF U19 the lead but saw her shot block at the near post, and despite the efforts of both sides, no more goals arrived, and on balance a draw was probably a fair result.

 

Neman welcomed Zorka into their indoor dome in front of a bumper crowd looking to keep the pressure on the two Minsk giants. However, Zorka, resplendent in their new purple kit, proved to be tough opposition and took the lead in the 14^th minute through Diana Bakum’s smart finish. Juliet Nana equalised soon after for Neman with her 14^th goal of the season but Diana Shmarovskaya restored Zorka’s lead in the 35^th minute, and the same player missed a golden opportunity just before the half-time whistle.

Dudko brought Neman back on level terms 6 minutes into the second half, after which neither side were able to fashion a winner despite several near misses.

 

Normal service on one-sided results was resumed with Dinamo Minsk’s 17-0 win over Gomel, notable only for some of the Dinamo players improving their goal-scoring statistics, with Karina Alkhovik on target 7 times. After the game stories were circulating that the Dinamo players had been detained by the Police for bullying defenceless young girls…………..

Similarly, Bobruichanka improved their goal difference with an 8-0 win over rock bottom Dinamo Brest. Bobruichanka could even afford a red card in the 60^th minute for a deliberate elbow to the chest, and managed to score three more goals with a player less. Gift scored a hat-trick, to make it 8 goals in 4 games for her since signing from Neman.

In the final match of the round Dnepr Mogilev again demonstrated their improvement by giving a tough test to FK Minsk, who required 2 two goals within a minute in order to secure the three points. Although Surovtseva had hit the bar from close range, Dnepr appeared to be comfortably soaking up the pressure from Minsk until a very soft penalty was conceded in the 36^th minute. Pinchuk picked herself up to score from the spot and less than a minute later Bogdan’s snap shot from the edge of the area bounced through a crowd of players and inside the far post.

Although Dnepr didn’t create any chances of note, Minsk might be a little concerned by creating so few chances themselves in the second half, with players usually preferring to take harmless long range pot-shots rather than to keep the ball or pass to a player in a better position.