June 11, 12 & 13, 2021
The Belarus Premier League resumes this week after an international break. Belarus hosted Azerbaijan and slumped to a 1-2 defeat. Despite Skavysh giving Belarus the lead, once the Azeris equalised there looked to be only one winner, even if the winning goal only arrived in added on time. In truth it was an “experimental” Belarus side, with no Lisakovich, Laptev, Dragun, Kendysh or Savitski, and debuts for Ruslan Khardarkevich and Gleb Shevchenko. The exotic scheduled fixture against Sierra Leone was postponed, presumably as the visitors were unable to travel to Belarus following the EU travel ban.
The BPL is up against another competition that starts on Friday, but unlike the Euros, is at least playing in the right year……………
FK Slavia Mozyr vs FK Minsk ( Friday at 16.00 UK time )
Both teams have conceded more goals ( 20 ) than any other side apart from the bottom two, so more goals can be expected. 2-2
Result : 1-2. An even game decided by three poor pieces of goal-keeping, but on the balance of chances, Minsk were probably deserved winners.
Slavia keeper Mikhail Baronovski is normally one of the more reliable keepers in the league but he wouldn’t have enjoyed watching the highlights of this game. In the 6th minute, a weak header from Argentinian Lopez somehow evaded the Slavia shot-stopper as he dived by the post, and with just over 10 minutes to play, a prod from Lopez went under the dive from Baronovski to give Minsk the three points.
In between, Melnikov’s equalising header went under Minsk keeper Prishivalko,’s slow motion dive, who really ought to have done better.
To ensure the general level of poor play wasn’t confined to goal-keepers, Lopez contrived to miss a sitter just before half-time after being set-up from a cross from Shramchenko.
With the win Minsk move to mid-table obscurity, Slavia’s battle against relegation was re-enforced.
Energetik BGU Minsk vs FK Gomel ( Friday at 18.00 UK time )
Despite Energetik’s good win at Dinamo Brest last time out, Gomel are impressing everyone with the relentless attacking approach. It will probably be the most entertaining game of the week-end. 1-2
Result : 3-2. Ultimately a convincing and deserved victory for Energetik, but only after an extremely dubious red card was shown in the first half to Gomel’s Sajcic. Whilst there may have been a little bit of contact from his arm as he rose to challenge for a header, it wasn’t intentional, and the dramatics from Energetik’s Sokol were highly unsavoury.
Gomel were leading 1-0 at the time thanks to Pobudey’s clever finish, and soon after going down to 10 men Solovei doubled their lead. Given that Gomel had scored three unanswered goals last time out against Minsk after having a player sent-off, the odds on an Energetik fight back looked unlikely. However, Moussakhanian pulled a goal back in the third minute of first half added on time to give Energetik renewed optimism at the break.
The second half was pretty much one way traffic. The influential Girs equalised in the 54th minute with a shot into the top corner from just inside the area, Vladislav Vasiljev had an effort mysteriously ruled out, but he then sealed the win for Energetik with an opportunistic strike from just inside the penalty area, bursting between two static defenders to finish in the bottom corner.
Energetik had chances to add a fourth goal, but that would perhaps have been harsh on Gomel.
FK Smorgon vs FK Slutsk ( Saturday at 12.45 UK time )
Slutsk have taken just one point from 6 away matches, and buoyed by their win at home to Isloch they should improve that record and put Smorgon further into the relegation abyss. 0-2
Result : 1-1. Smorgon ended a run of 5 consecutive defeats, but will probably feel this was two pointed dropped, being denied by a combination of poor finishing and twice by the woodwork. Veteran forward Leonid Kovel rescued a point for Smorgen 17 minutes from time, sweeping home from close to the penalty spot.
Slutsk were again heavily reliant on Nigerian striker Alfred, and took a first half time through an own goal, Shtygel deflecting Bocherov’s curling free-kick inside the near post
FK Sputnik vs Dinamo Minsk ( Saturday at 14.45 UK time )
Dinamo maybe in turmoil following the departure of coach Kuchuk, and unrest over government enforced salary reductions, but despite Sputnik’s battling Covid affected draw at Neman, Dinamo should have enough quality to win this one. 0-1
Result : 0-5. After being forced to play their first 5 home matches in either Gomel, or in the wilds of Mogilev, Sputnik were finally allowed to play in their own stadium and were greeted by a four figure crowd.
The home side managed to get to the interval only one goal behind, Klimovich’s 7th minute finish being the first of three goals for Dinamo at the back post after corners were flicked on, but Sputnik were outclassed in the second half.
Mbengue helped himself to a hat-trick, and provided an assist for Khvashchinskiy in a 10 minute spell when Dinamo scored 4 times, and missed a penalty. Khvashchinksiy’s kick hit the bar
BATE Borisov vs Neman Grodno ( Saturday at 16.45 UK time )
BATE have won 7 out of 7 home matches, and so should comfortably see off struggling Neman. 2-0
Result : 3-0. As expected, a routine win for BATE. After, Umarov’s delightful pass released Nekhaychik to finish with aplomb in the 14th minute, it was mainly a question of how many they would win by. In the end they were only able to add two further goals, in the last 20 minutes, by Skavysh and Signevich.
Neman’s best chance came with the scores still 0-0 but Sadovnichiy’s header went inches wide.
Shakhtyor Soligorsk vs FK Vitebsk ( Saturday at 18.45 UK time )
Shakhtyor have seen off all the aspirational challengers, usually by 1-0, so Vitebsk’s unbeaten and free-scoring run is likely to come to an end. 1-0
Result : 2-0. Another win for Shakhtyor, extending their 100% record to 12 games. Sachivko’s header gave the champions the lead in the 10th minute, but Vitebsk were always in the game and at times Shakhtyor’s defence was stretched. However, an own goal 10 minutes from time settled the contest, with the ball deflecting off the unfortunate Julio Cesar as it ricocheted around the 6 yard box after a corner. Vitebsk will probably play worse and win.
FK Isloch Minsk vs Dinamo Brest ( Sunday at 15.00 UK time )
Dinamo have lost their last two matches without scoring, and finding the net is a problem for them. Isloch don’t have much difficulty scoring, and if they take the lead Dinamo will struggle to respond. 1-0
Result 1-1. After Komarovskiy’s well placed header from Dbango’s superb cross had given Isloch the lead in the 55th minute, it increasingly looked like Dinamo would slip to a third consecutive 0-1 defeat. However, Bilenkyi’s last minute effort bobbled past Vasilyuchuk and into the corner of the net to give Dinamo a deserved point.
Midfielder Komarovskiy now has 8 league goals for the season, joint second best in the division.
Rukh Brest vs Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino ( Sunday at 17.00 UK time )
Potentially a tight match in prospect, but Rukh are slowly improving and are unbeaten at home. 2-1
Result : 3-0. Rukh’s ultimately comfortable victory didn’t look too obvious when defender William saw a straight red card in the 48th minute for pulling back Antilevski after losing control of the ball. Up to that point Torpedo keeper Bushma had kept his side in the contest with a string of decent saves.
Antilevski became the central character in the game, receiving a yellow card for diving after sticking his leg out to make contact with a defender’s foot, and then being denied by Jovic’s tremendous tackle and block. He also saw a curling shot drift just wide of the post as Torpedo sought to make the most of their one-man advantage.
It was against the run of play when Rukh took the lead in the 70th minute, Savitskiy’s pinpoint through ball put Kontsevoy clear, and he finished at the second attempt.
Torpedo’s hopes all but disappeared as Antilevksi returned to centre stage, an outrageous fall to the floor after perhaps some slight contact resulted in a second yellow card being brandished, and he was off.
Rukh wrapped up the points with two goals in the last 10 minutes, Sadovskiy turned home Pechenin’s fierce cross from close range and Bakaj slid home a cross from Savitskiy.
Summary :