October 16 & 17, 2021
The season
continues after the international break, where Belarus lost both matches in
disappointing fashion, 0-2 Estonia away, and 0-2 Czech Republic home ( but actually
played in Kazan in Russia ).
With just 5
rounds of fixtures left to be played, Shakhtyor should take another step closer
to winning the league, but Rukh and Dinamo Minsk meet in a game which could
have a huge impact on their challenges for a Europa Conference place. BATE
could make Slavia’s plight at the bottom more severe.
FK Isloch Minsk vs FK
Slutsk ( Saturday @ 11.00 UK time )
Both sides come into
this fixture on the back of good results last time out, with Isloch’s 4-0 win
at Vitebsk catching the eye, whilst Slutsk grabbed an important win over
Energetik to edge a little closer to safety. If Isloch play the same again they
should win. 2-1
Result : 2-0. A
deserved victory for Isloch to boost their bid for a 6th place
finish in the table. After a couple of early chances for Slutsk, Myakish gave
the home side the lead in the 22nd minute, being in the right place to
side-foot home from 6 yards after Komarovsky’s glancing header from a corner
had hit a defender.
Ten minutes into the
second half Komarovsky somehow contrived to miss from inside the 6 yard area after
being set-up by Gorbachik, after which Slutsk’s task to get back into the game
was made harder after a second yellow card in the 63rd minute to
Bocherov after a clumsy tackle on Kozyrenko. They did fashion one good chance
after this when a good move put Butarevich clear on the right-hand side of the
penalty area, but his shot across the goal when narrowly wide.
Needing to score a
goal with less than 10 minutes remaining and down to 10 men, Slutsk coach
Brazevich made the puzzling decision to take of striker Alfred, who had looked his
side’s most dangerous and creative player. After this, it became a question of
whether Isloch would score a second goal as Dibango and Sanoh missed good
chances, but the goal finally came in added on time after Dmitry Lisakovich was
allowed to get to by-line and his low cross left a simple tap-in for Gorbachik
from a couple of yards.
FK Smorgon vs FK
Vitebsk ( Saturday @ 13.00 UK time )
Vitebsk won the reverse
fixture 5-0, and that was at a time when Smorgon were playing well and Vitbesk
kept drawing 0-0. Now Smorgon are getting hammered every week, and Vitebsk are
scoring regularly it could be worse. 0-5
Result : 2-0. Possibly
the biggest shock of the season ! After conceding 17 goals in their last three
games, Smorgon recorded their first win of the season over someone other than Sputnik.
Vitebsk though, were shocking and the end of the season probably can’t come too
soon for them.
Teverov should have
given Vitebsk an early lead but headed weakly wide from the centre of the goal,
before Smorgon rightly had a goal disallowed for offside. Pasevich gave Smorgon
a surprise lead in the 36th minute after running onto a long ball
and drilling home from just inside the area.
A minute later Vitebsk’s
captain, Maksym Kalenchuk, received perhaps an unlucky second yellow card after
Bondarenko appeared to run straight into him. It didn’t look as if the
Vitebsk player could do much to get out of his way.
The outstanding Pasevich
settled the result in the 64th minutes with a fine left footed
finish in off the post after running past Glinskiy for his 5 goal in 8 games
since moving from Neman.
FK Slavia Mozyr vs
BATE Borisov ( Saturday @ 15.30 UK time )
A must win for both
sides but for different reasons. BATE won the reverse fixture 3-0 and should be
too good as they look to keep up their forlorn persuit of Shakhtyor. 1-2
Result : 3-1. Mozyr might
be BATE’s bogey ground, having lost there in the league and cup last season,
and now again in the league. With 7 points out of the last 10, Slavia now have
real hope of escaping the relegation play-off.
BATE should have taken
the lead in the 14th minute. After Vasilevich’s shot crashed back
from the bar, Umarov blazed the rebound over with the goal at his mercy. The
other major chance in the first half fell to Slavia but after being set-up by
Narh, Lovets’ poor finish went well over
Slavia opened the
scoring two minutes after the interval, when Narh’s long range shot went under
BATE keeper Kudravets. The ABFF website put the goal down as an own goal by
Kudravets and other sources have given an own goal to Filipovic ! The shot barely
took any deflection and was on target anyway.
BATE quickly responded
and Yablonski fired in equalizer from just inside the area after Slavia’s keeper
could only parry Umarov’s shot straight back into the danger zone. BATE then
looked to be getting on top but were rocked in the 64th minute when Zherdev
sent a tremendous shot into the roof of the net from over 20 yards
BATE should have equalized
again shortly after but Yusov’s shot straight at the advancing keeper when clear
on goal.
With 8 minutes remaining
Rybak somehow only received a yellow for bringing down Narh when the last man
but Barsukov curled the resulting free-kick over wall and into top corner to clinch
the three points for Slavia.
FK Minsk vs FK Gomel (
Sunday @ 11.00 UK time )
When these two sides
last met, Gomel won 5-0. Whilst Minsk are not mathematically safe from the relegation
play-off, they have less to play for than Gomel. 0-3
Result : 0-0. Possibly
Gomel’s poorest performance of the season. Despite having 64% of the possession
they rarely looked capable of breaking down Minsk’s stubborn defence, even
after the hosts were reduced to 10 men after yet another sending off for Muniru
with 20 minutes left. Too often the final ball went straight to a Minsk player
and Gomel were reduced to some ridiculous dives in an attempt to win a penalty.
Gomel actually started
quite brightly, Borodin hit the bar in the 7th minute and Batyshchev
saw his long range effort acrobatically tipped over the bar. Minsk’s defence
gradually strangled the life out of Gomel though, with Solovei missing their
only decent chance of the second half.
Minsk nearly snatched
the victory in the closing stages, but Lopes shot wide after being put clear by
Shramchenko’s first time pass. It could be an important point for Minsk.
Rukh Brest vs Dinamo
Minsk ( Sunday @ 13.00 UK time )
A big game in the
battle for European football. Rukh won 1-0 in Minsk in May and are unbeaten in
their last 15 league matches. Dinamo were disappointing in losing to Shakhtyor
last time out, and have lost all matches played against the other sides in the
top 5. 1-0
Result : 1-3. Dinamo
strengthened their hold on 3rd place, inflicting a first home defeat
on Rukh in doing so. However, the main talking points are likely to be around the
performance of referee Sergei Krasnikov.
Dinamo made an
impressive start and took the lead in the 6th minute when Batsula
arrived beyond back post to volley a floated cross from Matveychik left-footed
past Pavlyuchenko. Dinamo were in irresistible form, Poe twice shot narrowly wide
and saw a dipping shot tipped over the bar by the outstretched hand of the Rukh
keeper. Putilo had a shot gathered at the second attempt, then Bykov had a long
shot pushed away just beyond Lozhkin’s attempt to turn the rebound into the
net.
It was totally against
the run of play when Rukh equalized in the 24th minute. Noyok’s low
cross reached Kontsevoy, who fired in off the near post from 12 yards.
Savitski then broke to the edge of the Dinamo and laid the ball back to a supporting colleague. Unfortunately, it was the referee, usually these days in black, and probably not easy to distinguish from Rukh’s dark kit in peripheral vision. Oh the irony to think the referee might have been on Rukh’s side !
Referee Krasnikov first got in on the action in the 30th minute. Vakulich and Matveychik collided in a clumsy challenge midway in the Rukh half in which the Rukh looked the more likely to win the ball. Matveychik dipped his head and Vakulich’s foot was fairly high, but the contact was knee to shoulder ( or vice versa ! ). The free-kick could have been given either way. Matveychik went down holding his head even though there was no contact there and the referee first showed a yellow card to Vakulich, and after a delay then branded the red card.
Dinamo regained the
lead 5 minutes later. Shvetsov delivered a defence splitting pass for Bakhar to
run on and score between the keeper’s legs. Bakhar had a very long stare towards
the linesman but the flag stayed down. However, the TV replay suggested it was
a very marginal offside, and had VAR been in use, it probably would have been disallowed.
As tensions rose, 4 more
Rukh players were shown yellow cards before half-time, and in added on time Laptev
was fouled by a raised foot in a similar incident, and the Dinamo player didn’t
even see yellow. Perhaps Laptev should have collapsed to the floor…….To add
insult to injury, the ref then blew for half-time before the free-kick in a
promising position could be taken.
Dinamo obviously
dominated possession in the second half and Lozhkin hit the top of the bar with
an audacious volley. However, Rukh looked dangerous on their infrequent counter-attacks,
and should have equalized in the 61st minute. Kiki’s header from a
corner was only partially saved by Khatkevich and as the ball bounced up
Savitski completely mis-timed his header from two yards with the goal gaping.
When the ball was played back into the Dinamo area, Bakaj’s low shot on the turn
was well saved.
Dinamo had a good
chance to settle the match 13 minutes from time when a shot deflected of a Rukh
defender to Lozhkin but his shot was blocked by Pavlyuchenko’s outstretched leg.
Another moment of
controversy occurred 8 minutes from time. Bakaj headed into the Dinamo area and
both Kontsevoy and Khatkevich went for the ball. Kontsevoy got there first and
should have scored but he failed to make much of a contact with the ball.
However, Khatkevich took him out in his follow through after the ball had gone.
A clear and obvious penalty, but not in the eyes of referee Krasinov ! Dinamo
went down the other end of the field and Bykov delivered a low ball into the 6
yard box for substitute Latykhov to slide in and prod over the line for 3-1.
After a long delay following
Rukh’s protests, Bakaj kicked the restart straight out for a throw-in, which
was met with loud approval from the Rukh faithful. In added on time, Noyok also
kicked out for a throw as if he was going for a touch-finder in a rugby match.
Despite 5 minutes
added time being display, the referee blew for full-time a little bit early,
and it was significant that not one Rukh player went to shake his hand.
Energetik BGU Minsk vs
Dinamo Brest ( Sunday @ 15.00 UK time )
A tough one to call
with neither side in good form. Energetik have one win in their last 7 games,
whilst Dinamo’s last victory was 6 games ago. 1-1
Result : 0-0. Probably
a fair result between two out of form sides. For Energetik, oddly playing in Royal Blue rather than their usual Orange shirts, Papariga hit the
post from close range and shot badly wide when well placed, and in the closing
stages Mamadu squandered a 2 on 1 by going for goal himself rather than giving
the simple chance to Abdukhalikov.
For Dinamo, Shestyuk
was put clear but his attempt to lob the keeper hit the keeper, and in added on
time, a corner was flicked on but Zhurnevich on the stretch inside the 6 yard
box could only steer the ball over the bar.
Shakhtyor Soligorsk vs
Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino ( Sunday @ 17.00 UK time )
Torpedo won their last
match 7-1, albeit against Smorgon, but face a slightly harder task against the Champions
in-waiting. New coach Baga appears to made a difference to Shakhtyor and they
should serenely proceed towards the title. 2-0
Result : 3-1. A
comfortable win for the champions elect which very much confirmed their return
to form. Torpedo did well to survive to half-time as Shakhtyor missed a number
of chances and keeper Bushma made some fine saves. However, they conceded a
soft penalty shortly after the restart when Darboe was brought down in the act
of shooting. The Gambian got up to slot home the penalty and a minute later he
added a second with a thumping shot that beat Bushma at his near post.
The one-way traffic
continued and Ahmedi added the third in
the 68th minute with a delicate chip over Bushma. Torpedo scored a
consolation goal just before the end, Antilevski’s fine header proving too good
for Gutor.
Summary :
FK Isloch 2-0 FK Slutsk ( att : 100 )
FK Smorgon 2-0 FK Vitebsk ( att : 330 )
FK Slavia Mozyr 3-1 BATE Borisov ( att : 1,210 )
FK Minsk 0-0 FK Gomel ( att : 280 )
Rukh Brest 1-3 Dinamo Minsk ( att : 850 )
Energetik BGU Minsk 0-0 Dinamo Brest ( att : 100 )
Shakhtyor Soligorsk 3-1 Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino ( att : 1,131 )
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyuX1bw-_kk
Comments
Victory for Shakhtyor and defeat for BATE leaves
the Soligorsk side needing just 6 more points from their final 6 games to win
the title. Dinamo Minsk’s win at Rukh saw them move to only one point behind
BATE in third and the two are still to play each other again. Gomel have to face Shakhtyor twice in their
last 6 matches so have a big challenge to catch either Dinamo or BATE.
Isloch’s good run of form means they are favourites
to take 6th place from fading Vitebsk and Dinamo Brest.
At the bottom, Slavia’s excellent result over BATE
gave them renewed confidence in avoiding the relegation play-off, although
Slutsk still have 3 points to be added for the default win over Sputnik.
However, if Slavia repeat this weekend’s form in their final 5 games they could
easily record three more wins to put pressure on FK Minsk, Energetik and
Torpedo, in addition to Slutsk.
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