Review : Belarus 2021 Women’s Premier League – Week 12

June 18 & 19, 2021

June 18, 2021

Region of Gomel 0-8 Zorka BGU ( att : 27 )

FK Vitebsk 0-5 FK Minsk ( att : 50 )

Dinamo Brest 0-5 Neman Grodno ( att : 20 )

Dinamo BGU Minsk 5-0 Dnepr Mogilev

June 19, 2021

Bobruichanka 3-0 ABFF U19 ( att : 50 )

Since these diaries last reviewed the Belarus Women’s Premier League, two more rounds of league matches and the cup quarter-finals have been played, and there has also been a break for internationals.

In the past week, the Belarus Women’s National side recorded an easy 6-0 home win over Iran with a hat-trick from Anna Pilipenko, two goals from Karina Alkhovik and a first international goal for Anastasia Podegailo. However, they were held 1-1 at home to Uzbekistan, a disappointing result considering they had convincingly won 3-1 in Uzbekistan a month ago. Alkhovik was again on target, but after missing a host of good chances Belarus let the Uzbeks back into the game, and a poor defensive mistake by Novikova gifted the equaliser with 20 minutes to play.

In the two rounds of league matches, Gomel were hammered 0-12 and 0-14 to go past 100 goals conceded in 11 games, and Dinamo Brest lost 0-5 and 0-11 to stay bottom without a point. Dnepr Mogilev improved their goal difference by 25 in the process……

There were some competitive matches to watch though, with the pick being FK Minsk’s 2-1 home win over Zorka in front of a healthy attendance of 150. Despite dominating the game, FK Minsk had only been able to beat the Zorka rear guard once, an own goal from a corner, and after Diana Bakum’s twice taken penalty had squared the match at 1-1 with 7 minutes to play, a shock result looked possible. Minsk’s blushes were spared though by a fabulous left-footed 20 yard shot into the top corner from Pobegailo three minutes from full-time to deny Zorka a point.

 

Vitebsk continued to be competitive but without getting results, going down 2-4 at home to Neman in an entertaining game played outdoors, and not been disgraced in losing 0-3 at Zorka, with game still being scoreless with 25 minutes remaining.

In other events, Bobruichanka became the first side to score against Dinamo Minsk, Emuobor Preshes taking the honour, although Dinamo still won 6-1 !

The Cup Quarter finals all went to form, with Dinamo Minsk winning 7-0 at Vitebsk, Neman 11-0 at Dinamo Brest, whilst FK Minsk won 5-0 at Dnepr, with all the goals coming in the first 19 minutes. In the other tie, Zorka sneaked past Bobruichanka 1-0 in Bobruisk thanks to a  soft 10^th minute penalty and held on to win in a game where both sides missed a number of good chances,

The semi-finals are scheduled to be played on June 22^nd, with Neman hosting FK Minsk, and Dinamo Minsk at home to Zorka in the other tie.

The four matches in round 12 played on Friday 18^th collectively resulted in a total of 23 unanswered goals as the mismatches continued. Dnepr might have been expected to stretch Dinamo Minsk, but after Pilipenko gave the champions the lead in the 6^th minute it was pretty much one-way traffic and only a number of good saves from Dnepr keeper Svidunovich kept the score down to 5-0. 

 

Vitebsk hit the bar with a long range shot in the 5^th minute but FK Minsk swiftly dashed hopes of a close match by taking the lead in the 8^th minute. Similar to Dinamo, they went onto win 5-0, and it could have been more but for some bad misses, some good saves, the woodwork and some brave defending.

After Neman lead 4-0 at half-time at Dinamo Brest, a huge victory looked on the cards, so losing by only 0-5 was probably a good result for rock bottom Dinamo, whilst a 0-8 defeat was an improved result for Gomel against Zorka, compared to their recent double digit thrashings. 19 year old Diana Bakum again scored 4 times against Gomel and now has 18 for the season.

The sole match on Saturday beforehand looked to be the most evenly matched game of the weekend, with ABFF U19 sitting one place above Bobruichanka, and the previous meeting between the two sides had been a 0-0 draw in Minsk. However, the three victories for ABFF U19 had all been against Gomel and Dinamo Brest, whereas Bobruichanka had only lost to Dnepr, Neman and Zorka by single goal margins and they had played a game less than ABFF U19 against Gomel and Dinamo Brest.

The bookmakers had Bobruichanka as 1/3 favourites, with ABFF U19 at 5/1, and those odds were vindicated, as after taking the lead in the 4^th minute, the home side ran out fairly comfortable 3-0 winners, adding two more goals in the second half and missed numerous other chances. For ABFF U19, Ezrezova hit the post in the first half with a shot from just outside the area, and they hit the bar following a scramble at a corner in the second half. Nevertheless, they were well beaten.