July 16, 17 & 18, 2021
After a week off following the season reaching the half-way stage, there are again just the seven matches this weekend, with Shakhtyor’s match again being postponed despite their elimination from the Champions League. The most attractive fixture looks to be the Gomel vs Rukh match-up, two in-form sides capable of playing attractive football. BATE face another stern away test at Slutsk, whilst Dinamo Minsk go to Zhodino looking to consolidate a place in the top three.
Shakhtyor were outplayed by Ludogorets in their Champions League First Leg in Bulgaria but looked like getting away with a 0-0 draw until they were caught out 4 against 3 in added on time, and a swift attack saw Tchibota play across the face of the goal for the unmarked Cauly Oliveira to steer into the empty net.
The return fixture, played at the Cukaricki stadium in Belgrade due to the political sanctions imposed on Belarus, was a much more even affair, and Darboe missed a great chance to level the tie mid-way through the first half. After excellent work to skin defender Igor Platsun, faced with a 1 on 1 with the keeper, Kahlina made a brave block. As Shakhtyor pressed for an equaliser in the second half, too many players were thrown forward for a corner, and in a scene painfully reminiscent of the first leg, Ludogorets clinically exploited a 2 on 1 break and captain Kiril Despodov was played in for a simple finish to clinch the tie. Shakhtyor now drop down to the Europa Conference to face Fola of Luxembourg, who lost 0-5 in Gibraltar to Lincoln Red Imps in their second leg tie.
Two catch matches in the Belarus Cup were played over the free weekend, with two first half goals allowing Torpedo to cruise to victory at Stanles Pinsk. In the other game, Naftan looked to be causing a major upset, leading Dinamo Brest 2-0 with less than 5 minutes to play. However, goals from Sanusi and Lynko forced extra time, and Dinamo converted all 5 of their penalties against ex-Gorodeya folk-hero Igor Dovgyallo to win the shoot-out 5-4.
FK Slutsk vs BATE Borisov ( Friday at 14.45 UK time )
Slutsk have put clear daylight between them and the bottom 4 and have lost only one of 7 home matches. BATE’s away form has been patchy and they face the prospect of dropping more points. 1-1
Result : 3-4. A crazy game. Slutsk, with Arseni Kontsedailov in their starting line-up after becoming a free agent following the demise of Sputnik, started like a house on fire and the ex-Sputnik man nearly opened the scoring in the 4th minute but was denied by Kudravets. Two minutes later a fine end to end move saw Kudravets make good save with his legs, this time from Sasin.
Against the run of play BATE took the lead in the 9th minute, Karasev reacted quickly to his first effort being stopped to fire home from 6 yards. Vergeichik headed against the bar for Slutsk before BATE doubled their lead in the 18th minute, slack defending at a corner left Yablonski free beyond the back post to head home.
A poor ball from Veljko was intercepted and Nekhaychik was put clear to run from the half-way line to put BATE 3-0 ahead in the 37th minute, and a comedy headed own goal under little pressure gave BATE a four goal lead at the interval.
Slutsk still gave it a go though despite the scoreline and when Vergeichik went down very easily after Kopitovic’s challenge, Sasin converted from the penalty spot. The introduction of Alfred, surprisingly only on the bench, gave Slutsk further impetus, and Slutsk harshly saw a goal ruled out when Alfred bravely bundled the ball home after an awful handling error by Kudravets. However, the BATE keeper’s blushes were spared by the referee awarding a foul on the keeper.
Alfred was not to be denied, and after some kami-kaze defending by Kopitovic he was on hand to steer right footed into the roof of the net from close range.
Alfred, Glebko and Anyukevich all had reasonable chances to further reduce the deficit, and Slutsk were only able to capitalise on their dominance in the last minute of added time, when Alfred left Yablonski for dead and teed up Buraev for a late consolation
Dinamo Brest vs FK Sputnik ( Friday at 16.45 UK
time )- CANCELLED
The Brest derby was arguably the highest quality match in the BPL this season and a repeat of their display that day should see them win comfortably against a Sputnik side reportedly in further disarray. 4-0
Result : 3-0. The sad news during the week was the folding of FK Sputnik due to financial issues. As they had completed half of the season, all remaining fixtures will be awarded as 3-0 losses rather than having their results expunged.
Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino vs Dinamo Minsk ( Friday at 18.45 UK time )
Dinamo looked to have rediscovered some of their early season panache in despatching a poor Slavia side two weeks ago. Torpedo are struggling in mid-table with their only points in their last 6 matches coming against the bottom three. 1-2
Result : 1-2. A come-back win for Dinamo which was hard on Torpedo, who looked on course for victory for much of the game and deserved at least a point. The home side took the lead in the 19th minutes after Pavlyukovets delightful ball over a square back 4 put Aussi clear and he provided a ball across goal to leave an open goal for Tajikistan international Samiev on his full debut.
Bushma made fine saves to thwart Mbengue ( three times ) and Selyava, and Poe missed badly, but Antilevski and Aussi had good chances to increase Torpedo’s lead.
Selyava’s elbow into Antilevski’s face gave Torpedo a penalty to put the game beyond Dimamo, but Khatkevich saved Antilevski’s spot-kick, and saved again in the ensuing barrage of attempts on the Dinamo goal.
That miss proved costly with just under 15 minutes to play, when Matveychik played the ball across the 6 yard box to leave Klimovich a side-foot into the empty net. Dimano went looking for the winner, and after a couple of near misses, Klimovich crossed for centre-back Naumov to head home at the far post in the 92nd minute.
FK Smorgon vs Energetik BGU Minsk ( Saturday at 16.45 UK time )
Smorgon have drawn three of their last 4 matches and continue to impress in their battle against relegation. Energetik are on a decent run but may have to settle for a point. 1-1
Result 2-2 : Smorgon extended their run to one defeat in 5 games, but missed two great chances at the death to take all three points. Overall though, a draw was probably a fair result.
Smorgon took the lead in the 7th minute when Leonovich shot home left footed from the edge of the area after good work down the left hand side by Pasevich. Energetik were soon back on level terms though when Rybak’s long range effort took a deflection and ended up in the opposite corner to the one Shapko was diving towards.
Smorgon regained the lead with 15 minutes left, Camara did well to get to the by-line and from 6 yards out Pasevich volleyed his cross to the near post into the roof of the net. Energetik responded quickly, but slack marking allowed Svirepa to powerfully head home Vasiljev’s corner.
With the heavy rain leaving puddles on the pitch Smorgon pressed for the winner in the closing stages, but in added time Ignatenko shot narrowly wide from 12 yards, and Bondarenko volleyed horribly wide when left unmarked beyond the back post.
FK Gomel vs Rukh Brest ( Saturday at 18.45 UK time )
The tie of the weekend as 5th host 3rd. Only Torpedo have avoided defeat at Gomel, whilst only BATE and Shakhtyor have been Rukh. The sides drew 1-1 one the first day of the season with Gomel very unlucky not to win. 2-2
Result : 0-0. A disappointingly drab match, as Rukh’s ultra defensive approach, leaving Tweh, Laptev and Savitskiy on the bench, neutralised Gomel and got the point they had set out to achieve. Gomel strove manfully to breakdown the massed defence but were mostly reduced to long range efforts, from which Kostrov twice came close. Vasiljev missed a golden chance midway through the second half but shot wide from 8 yards, and Rukh keeper Pavlyuchenko made a brave block in added on time to keep out Chikida’s rasping effort.
For Rukh, Pechenin forced a good save from Gomel keeper Ivanenko in the first 10 minutes, otherwise Elis Bakaj appears to have taken over from Noyok as the Premier League’s main player for optimistically shooting from any ridiculous long range position.
The only other positive thing to say about Rukh was that their change shirts of purple were quite fetching !
FK Slavia Mozyr vs FK Isloch Minsk ( Sunday at 16.450 UK time )
Slavia have taken just one point from their last 6 matches. Isloch looked much better than in recent weeks in their draw at FK Minsk and should take advantage of the gifts usually on offer from the Slavia defence. 1-2
Result : 1-1. Slavia reacted to their perilous league position with a raft of new players being brought in and 7 players in the starting line-up were making their debut for the club. Nevertheless, it was one of the old guard who salvaged a point for Slavia, Dennis Tetteh came off the bench and thumped home an unstoppable shot into the top corner in the 93rd minute.
Energetik’s goal had a strong element of fortune to it, Patotskiy’s unconvincing shot took two deflections and dribbled past the despairing dive of the Slavia keeper.
The draw was a fair result overall, Malkevich, on loan from BATE, had struck the bar from a free-kick in the first half, and as Slavia pressed for an equaliser, a cross evaded the head of Shestilovskiy by inches when he looked certain to score.
FK Vitebsk vs Neman Grodno ( Sunday at 18.45 UK time )
Vitebsk should be too good for Neman, but it hard to go against another 0-0 draw involving Vitebsk, and the two sides have already played out one goalless draw this season ! 0-0
Result : 2-0. Vitebsk were indeed too good for Neman, and the wall of Grodno is now a ruin as even goal shy Vitebsk were able to notch up two goals. It was predictably goal-less at the break, but two goals in a five minute spell mid-way through the second half settled the tie.
Teverov, who had been guilty of a bad miss in the first half, scrambled home from close range after Neman keeper Kurganski had flapped and missed from a corner, then Diego Carioca, in reportedly his last game for Vitebsk before a transfer to Ukrainian side Kolos Kovalivka, coolly finished after Kantaria had made a hash on intercepting a through pass.
The nearest Neman came to a goal was Zabelin’s first half header which was acrobatically tipped over the bar by Gushchenko.
Summary :