PREMIER LEAGUE
Friday 8th May
Slutsk 1 Energetyk-BGU 2 (650)
Gorodeya 1 FC Minsk 1 (310)
On Friday it was The Students who beat the team who were top of the league going into the weekend fixtures. Both Energetyk's goals came from Uzbekistan International Jasurbek Yakhshiboev (both penalty kicks) with Slutsk replying via Umar Bala just before the break. It was the visitor's third victory of five on their travels and their fifth of eigt games played in total. Energetyk were down to the 10 men on 71 minutes when Aik Musahagian was sent off following a second yellow card - there were seven yellows given out in the game (six to Energetyk). Mushahagian was born in Minsk to Armenian parents but moved to France as a youngster before moving back to Belarus to play for Engertyk in 2017.
Gorodeya and Minsk finished all square. The visitors scored first on 20 minutes via Uladzimir Khvashchynski (currently on loan from Shakhtyor Soligorsk) - it was his fourth goal of the season. Gorodeya made it 1-1 just before the break via Serbian striker Lazar Sajcic with his second in seven games this season.
Saturday 9th May
Slavia Mozyr 0 Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino 0 (824)
Neman Grodno 2 Rukh Brest 4 (314)
The league leader's prior to the weekend games kicking off were Torpedo Belaz Zhodino who came away from Mozyr with a point. It was Slavia Mozyr's second goal-less draw of the season and Torpedo's third.
(courtesy of Torpedo Morzyr on Instagram)
It was a great day for Rukh who scored more than one goal for the first time in their debut season in the Belarusian Premier League. Vladislav Vasiliev (4 mins) and Denis Grechikho (14 mins) made it 0-2 at half time with Pavel Sedko adding another from the penalty spot after a handball in the box on 55 minutes. Neman's right sided attacking midfielder Gegam Kadimyan scored a very good goal goal with a curling strike from outside of the penalty box to make it 1-3 on 68 minutes - Vasiliev was sent off for a second booking on 86 minutes with Moldovan Gheorghe Andronic scoring a fourth for Rukh only moements later with a great strike from just inside the box. Kadimyan made it 2-4 with his six goal of the season. The 27 year old was signed from Armenian Premier League side FC Alashkert in the pre-season and has never been really prolific on the goal scoring front with his best total previously being the 7 in 36 for Ukranian side Olympik Donetsk in 2014/15.
Up until the last two games Neman had a good defensive record letting in just four in five games but have now let in seven in two games. They will need to improve on this if they want to pull away from the bottom of the division - Their goalkeeper Dmitri Dudar will be wanting a clear sheet in their next game against FC Minsk.
Sunday 10th May
Isloch 2 Belshina 1 (337)
Vitebsk 0 Shakhtyor Soligorsk 0 (595)
Smolevichi-STI 3 BATE Borisov 5 (2,915)
Dynamo Brest 2 Dynamo Minsk 1 (2,354)
In the 12noon kick off it was 1-0 just prior to half time when a header towards goal rebounded off the post onto the unlucky Belshina keeper's Sergey Turanok dive and into the net.
Momo Yansane scored a great goal to make 0-2 on 52 minutes after Belshina put the pressure on the Isloch back line after the break. He calmly and deftly lifted the ball past Turanok after beating the off side trap from header onwards. The Guinean forward now has four goals for the season so far.
Belshina played some good football but just didn't get any luck and lacked a real cutting edge in front of goal. Seyarhey Glebko, signed from Gomel who were relegated from the Premier League last season, showed some good touches in an attacking midfield position and it was his pressure on the Isloch defender Oleksander Papush which caused him to put through his own net on from a cross from the right hand side.
Another former Gomel player in forward Nivaldo Rodrigues played for the first half - The 31 year old Brazilian who played for Gudja United in the Maltese Premier League in January, February and March of this year has yet to score for Belshina this season.
It's looking like a long season ahead for the 2019 First League champions.
The squad at Belsghina is much changed - A comparison of starting XI's from their final first league game of the 2019 season at NFK Minsk to the players who started against Isloch shows Artem Dylevshiy and Andrey Lyashyuk now at First League side Lida. Illya Rutskiy at Sputnik also in the first league with Yuri Pavlyukrovets and Ilya Kulcharicik now at Torpedo Belaz Zhodino. Russian Aleksandr Yushin who made 27 appearances for Belshina last season is now with Neftekhimik in the Russian second tier.
Only five players remained in the starting XI - Sergey Turanok, Samuel Odeyobo, Valdislav Solanovich, Pavel Bordukov and Roman Salimov. Manager Eduard Gradoboyev will be hoping for better luck against Vitebsk next weekend as the new players he has brought in continue to get used to each other.
Vitebsk welcomed Shakhtyor and the game ended 0-0. The visitors have now been involved in three goal-less draws in their eight games played and have only conceded three goals - two against Slutsk and one against Torpedo Belaz Zhodino in their only two defeats so far.
(courtesy of FC Shakter Sologorsk on Instagram)
In the third game of the day the end result brought a very familiar feel to the top of the table in Belarus as BATE Borisov won an eventful game 3-5 against Smolevichi-STI who are still without a win in this season. On paper it was a real David v Goliath affair as the home side who finished second in the First League last season lined up with a starting XI with 3 International caps. Eduard Zhevnerov has one full cap for Belarus in 2010 when he came on in the last minute against Lithuania and Jean Poe who has two caps for the Ivory Coast in 2016 and 2017 - He has recently moved on-loan form Torpedo Belaz Zhodino. In contrast BATE had a starting XI with 197 caps for Belarus and 4 for Bosnia.
There was a shock in the first minute when 29 year old striker Evgeni Baruskov scored his second goal of the season for the home side to take a very unexpected 1-0 lead. Normal service was resumed for BATE on 13, 15 and 36 minutes for them to take a 1-3 scoreline in at half-time. Their goal scorers were Skavysh, Stasevich and Baga. Would normal service resume in the second half?
Huge credit to the home side who came out and made it 2-3 through Dmitri Shchegrikovic who scored his first goal since Sautrday 25th August 2018 when he netted whilst representing Belshina in their 0-5 first league game against UAS Zhitkovichi. It was 3-3 on 63 minutes when Poe struck from the edge of the box to the delight of the home fans who were outnumbered by the away following in the Haradski Stadium in Barysaw. Also known as the 'City Stadium' it was the former home of BATE up until 2014 when they move to the Borisov Arena. I'm not sure why the game was switched from Smolevichi's Ozyorny Stadium which is around a 40 minute car journey away.
BATE broke the home side's resolve in the 80th minute when subsitute Nemanjo Milic made it 3-4 via a header and then made it five for BATE in added time. Despite the defeat the home side can take lots of positives into their away game at Rukh Brest next weekend.
In the final game of the day it was Dynamo Brest v Dynamo Minsk. The home side, in a confident mood following their 0-3 win at Belshina last weekend, took an early lead through an own goal only for Minsk to reply via Belgian player Danillo (he was born in Brazil but played for Belgium at u18, u19, u20 and u21 level) on 24 minutes. Denis Laptev scored the winner for Dynamo Brest in the second half to make it two wins in row for the 2019 champions - It was Laptev's second goal in as many games.
CURRENT TABLE -TOP FOUR ONLY
| POS | TEAM | P | W | GD | PTS | FORM (5) |
| 1. | BATE BORISOV | 8 | 5 | +7 | 16 | WDWWW |
| 2. | SLUTSK | 8 | 5 | +4 | 16 | DWWWL |
| 3. | TORPEDO ZHODINO | 8 | 4 | +5 | 15 | WDDWD |
| 4. | ENERGETYK BGU | 8 | 5 | +2 | 15 | LLLWW |
FIRST LEAGUE
Saturday 9th May
Smorgon 1 Lida 0 (150)
Sunday 10th May
Sputnik Rechitsa 1 Khimik Svetlogorsk 0 (250)
Oshmyany 0 Orsha 0 (200)
Naftan Novopolotsk 2 Slonim-2017 1 (189)
Gomel P Arsenal Dzezzhinsk P
(called off as one of the Arsenal players had showed symptons of Covid-19 - to be played on a later date)
Granit Mikashevichi 0 Volna Pinsk 1 (320)
Monday 11th May
Lokomotiv Gomel v Krumachy Minsk
In the First League Lokomotiv Gomel and Krumachy Minsk both have the chance to go level on points at the top of the table with Sputnik Rechitsa in tomorrow evening's game which is scheduled to kick off at 4pm English time - I believe their will be youtube footage of the game available but I can't confirm at this time.
Naftan Novopolotsk got their first win of the season with both goals in their 2-1 victory over Slonim coming from former Gomel player Alexsandr Yanchenko. The club who won the cup in 2009 and 2012 play at the 5,300 capacity Atlant Stadium were relegated from the top division in 2017 after finishing bottom of the table. They have so far finished in 5th place both in 2018 and 2019 so may go closer to returning the Premier League this season?
CURRENT TABLE -TOP FOUR ONLY
| POS | TEAM | P | W | GD | PTS | FORM (4) |
| 1. | SPUTNIK RECHISTA | 4 | 3 | +4 | 10 | DWWW |
| 2. | SMORGON | 4 | 2 | +3 | 8 | DWDW |
| 3. | KRUMMACHY MINSK | 3 | 2 | +7 | 7 | WWD |
| 4. | LOKOMOTIVE GOMEL | 3 | 2 | +6 | 7 | WWD |
SECOND LEAGUE
GROUP A
Saturday 9th May
Meliorator Zhitkovichi 2 BGU Minsk 1
Sunday 10th May
Baranovichi 3 Kronon 1
Dinamo Malorita 5 Ivatsevichi 1
Ostrovets FC 8 Chayka Zelva 0
Pershiy Regien 3 Molodechno-DYuSSh 0
In Group A of the second league Ostrovets kept up their brilliant start to the campaign with an 8-0 home win over Chayka Zelva who are rooted the to bottom of the table having lost all four games and let in twenty-eight goals - it won't get any easier for them next weekend as they host Meltortator Zhitkovichi who are the other side with 100% winning record having won 2-1 at BGU Minsk this weekend.
CURRENT TABLE -TOP FOUR ONLY
| POS | TEAM | P | W | GD | PTS | FORM (4) |
| 1 | OSTROVETS | 4 | 4 | +14 | 12 | WWWW |
| 2 | MELTORTATOR | 4 | 4 | +6 | 12 | WWWW |
| 3 | PERSHIY REGIEN | 4 | 2 | +3 | 7 | LDWW |
| 4. | DYNAMO MALORITA | 3 | 2 | +0 | 6 | LWW |
GROUP B
Saturday 9th May
Dnepr Rogachev 0 Bumprom 1
Sunday 10th May
Dnepr Mogilev 9 Viktoriya Maryina Horka 1
Shakhtyor Petrikov 6 Polotsk 1
Osipovichy 2 SMI Autotrans 0
Energosbyt-BSATU 0 Gorki 2
In Group B Shakhtoyr Petrikov, DNEPR Mogilev and Bumprom continued their 100% winning starts to the season. DNEPR showed they will be a force to be reckoned with by beating Viktoriya 9-1 with Petrikov putting six past Polotsk.
It's a top of the table clash next weekend as Bumprom welcome Shakhtyor Petrikov.
CURRENT TABLE -TOP FOUR ONLY
| POS | TEAM | P | W | GD | PTS | FORM (4) |
| 1 | SHAKHTYOR PETRIKOV | 4 | 4 | +14 | 12 | WWWW |
| 2. | DNEPR MOGILEV | 3 | 3 | +17 | 9 | WWW |
| 3 | BUMPROM | 3 | 3 | +9 | 9 | WWW |
| 4. | GORKI | 3 | 2 | +1 | 7 | WDLW |
RESERVE LEAGUE
Friday 8th May
Neman Grodno Res 4 Rukh Brest Res 1
Slavia Mozyr Res 0 Torpedo Zhodino Res 1
Saturday 9th May
Dynamo Brest Res 1 Dinamo Minsk Res 2
Isloch Res 5 Belshina Res 2
Smolevichy-STI Res 2 BATE Res 0
Vitebsk Res 3 Shakhtyor Res 0
Dynamo Minsk Reserves currently lead the reserve division with seven wins and one draw from their eight games played. They are closely followed by Neman Grodno Reserves who have six wins, one draw and one defeat from their eight games played. Dynamo's only dropped points came aginst city rival's FC Minsk (currently third place) in a 2-2 draw.
Fourth placed Isloch lost their first two games but have since won six a row scoring twenty-one goals and letting in just five.
Gorodeya Reserves are bottom with just one point earned (in a 0-0 draw with Shakhtyor) from their eight games - they now have lost their last six games in row.
CURRENT TABLE - TOP FOUR ONLY
| POS | TEAM | P | W | GD | PTS | FORM (5) |
| 1 | DYNAMO MINSK | 8 | 7 | +19 | 22 | WWWWW |
| 2 | NEMAN GRODNO | 8 | 6 | +9 | 19 | WLWWW |
| 3 | FC MINSK | 8 | 6 | +8 | 19 | WLWWW |
| 4. | ISLOCH | 8 | 6 | + | 18 | WWWWW |
I will update you all with next weekend's fixtures in the week - There has been some doubt if they will take place with unconfirmed reports of players from Neman Grodno and FC Minsk displaying signs and symptoms of COVID-19. If it is true I wish the players and their familes all the best and hope they are okay. Please stay safe at this time and enjoy your week whatever you maybe doing.
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