June 17, 18 & 19, 2021
Week 13 means the season in nearly one third of the way completed, and Shakhtyor go into the round still with a 100% record. It’s an early start, with two matches on Thursday evening, and there are several potentially exciting games in prospect, including another proverbial six pointer at the bottom between Neman and Slavia.
FK Minsk vs Energetik BGU Minsk ( Thursday at 16.00 UK time )
Likely to be an entertaining encounter between two evenly matched mid-table sides. 2-2
Result : 2-1. Energetik will be wondering how they lost this match but giving away goals at the start of each half isn’t the best way to go about winning football matches.
Energetik fell behind with 50 seconds on the clock. Sokol was caught dozing in possession by Yarotski, who presented Argentinian Lopez a regulation finish from near the penalty spot. The visitors were back on level terms just before half-time thanks to a very soft penalty. Minsk keeper Prishivalko fumbled a long ball into the area and Vasiljev reacted quickly to prod out of the keeper’s reach, and then fell to the floor without any obvious contact with the keeper. The referee awarded the penalty rather than a yellow card for diving, and Vasiljev scored from the spot.
Minsk were back in front a minute into the second half, Kasarab crossed for Lopez to head into an empty net from 8 yards, with Energetik keeper Rusanov caught totally out of position having rushed to his 6 yard line and getting nowhere near the ball. It was Lopez’s 7th goal of the season.
Vasiljev twice came close to getting the equaliser, and Girs forced a decent save from Prishivalko but they longer the game went on the less likely Energetik looked to score, and in the end Minsk held onto their lead fairly comfortably.
Neman Grodno vs FK Slavia Mozyr ( Thursday at 18.00 UK time )
An opportunity for one side to get some much needed breathing space at the bottom of the table. Neman haven’t been playing too badly, but have suffered from a lack of goals. Slavia’s leaky defending could be obliging…..1-0
Result : 2-2. Slavia used their “get out of jail free” card as Neman threw away the victory. With Roman Gribovskiy scoring twice after making his first start for Neman after moving from FK Minsk in the winter, Neman were cruising with 5 minutes left to play. Gribovskiy showed great determination for his first, and had a simple finish for the second after being set-up by Pasevich’s low cross from the by-line.
However, sloppy defending left Zherdev free to score from 6 yards to set up a nervous last few minutes for Neman, and with the clock showing more than the 4 added minutes being played, a free-kick was launched into the Neman penalty, falling for Sliusar to play across the face of the goal where Pavlyuchuk slid in to grab the equaliser.
FK Slutsk vs Shakhtyor Soligorsk ( Friday at 16.00 UK time )
Unlucky 13th for Shakhtyor ? Probably not ! 0-1
Result : 1-4. Slutsk deserved led after an ordinary first half, thanks to an emphatic finish from Alfred on the stroke of half-time. Shakhtyor presumably received a proverbial rocket during the break as they were a different side in the second half, and tremendous strikes from Stasevich and Antic gave them a 2-1 lead just after the hour mark. Darboe poached two more goals to rub more salt in the Slutsk’s wounds, and to take him to 13 goals for the season. A harsh score-line for Slutsk.
Dinamo Brest vs FK Smorgon ( Friday at 18.00 UK time )
Dinamo are likely to struggle to breakdown Smorgon’s defence but ultimately should have enough quality to suffice. 2-0
Result : 2-2. A deserved point for Smorgon after a battling display which showed they don’t intend to be relegated without putting up a fight. The visitors took the lead in the 6th minute, Bondarenko getting onto Senkevich’s teasing cross to send a fine header across goal into the far corner but Dinamo were level in the 15th minute thanks to Bilenkyi’s left footed drive from the edge of the penalty area.
Zadi’s glancing header restored Smorgon’s lead with 60 minutes played, but Dinamo were again quickly level, Sedko scoring two minutes later with a left-footed shot from outside the area which went through a crowd of players.
Dinamo’s Oreshkevich was unfortunate to receive a second yellow in the 82th minute, the foul could easily have been given the other way. Both sides pressed for the winning, but the draw was probably the fair result.
FK Vitebsk vs Rukh Brest ( Saturday at 12.45 UK time )
Rukh are getting better each week but face a tough assignment against a Vitebsk side also playing a lot better than at the start of the season. 1-2
Result : 0-0. The return of Vitebsk 0-0 !! After 5 games featuring goals, a return to type and their 6th 0-0 out of 12 games. It might have all been very different for Vitebsk had Ksenofontov’s 22nd minute shot not crashed back from the bar.
Despite having the majority of the possession, Rukh showed very little ambition, content to move the ball around far too slowly. They could though have stolen victory 5 minutes from time when Sadovskiy robbed a sleeping defender of possession and bore down on goal. He just needed to chip the ball over the advancing keeper but chose to shoot, and Gushchenko was able to block. However, a 0-0 draw was the right result.
FK Gomel vs FK Isloch Minsk ( Saturday at 14.45 UK time )
Could be a thriller between two high scoring sides. Home advantage to prevail. 2-1
Result : 2-0. Ultimately a routine victory for Gomel over a fairly insipid Isloch side, who surprisingly left top goalscorer, midfielder Dmitri Komarovsky on the bench. Komarovsky still managed to get booked by referee Denis Shcherbakov without setting foot on the field of play !
After Solovei squandered a good chance in the first minute, Gomel’s leading scorer made amends in the 12th minute with a fabulous left-footed strike into the roof of the net from a tight angle. Gomel doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time, Vasyliev’s free-kick going through the Isloch wall.
Isloch never seriously looked like getting back in the game, and the comedy moments of the match came in added on time, Gomel keeper Kovalyov came outside of his area to clear an aimless long ball, but he misjudged the bounce of the ball and pushed it away with both hands as it went over his head. An obvious red card, but the introduction of a substitute goalkeeper was delayed for several minutes until Gomel realised that had to take-off an outfield player ! Gomel have now had a player sent-off in their last three matches
Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino vs FK Sputnik ( Saturday at 16.45 UK time )
Sputnik are unlikely to get any respite from their struggles against a solid Torpedo side. 2-0
Result : 2-0. A regulation win for Torpedo, who scored both goals in a two minute spell around the half hour mark. First, Makarov’s incisive pass released Gabovda through a huge hole in the middle of the Sputnik defence to open the scoring, then Leonovich’s close range header hit the post and bounced along the goal-line and eventually over the line inside the far post. Torpedo should have won by a lot more but too often their players chose to selfishly shoot rather than playing to better placed team-mates.
There was nothing positive to say about Sputnik’s performance part from some brave defending at times.
Dinamo Minsk vs BATE Borisov ( Saturday at 18.45 UK time )
One or both sides could fall further behind Shakhtyor. Neither side will probably want to risk losing and it could be a repear of the last day of the 2020 season. 0-0
Result : 0-2. A thoroughly professional performance from BATE to leave them as the only credible remaining challenger to Shakhtyor for the title. Ultimately BATE took their chances whilst Dinamo didn’t.
BATE took the lead in the 36th minute when Dragun’s clever pass put Skavysh clear to clinically finish across the goal into the top corner. Their second goal arrived in the 67th minute with Milic heading home Nekhaychik’s free-kick, although there was a suspicion of offside. In between, Lozhkin hit the post with an effort that came off his shin, but he probably would have scored with a better contract. Losing at half-time, Dinamo decided to replace top-scorer and dangerman M’Bengue…….
Dinamo did set-up a barnstorming finish in which the BATE goal led a charmed life and somehow Dinamo failed to grab at least a consolation goal. They had a decent penalty appeal turned down, hit the bar, had a shot cleared off the line, a close range shot hit BATE keeper Chichkan which he knew nothing about, but he them made a flying save to prevent a headed own goal.
Summary :