BELARUSIAN PREMIER LEAGUE, FIRST AND SECOND LEAGUE WEEKEND REVIEW

RESULTS
FRIDAY 1st MAY

PREMIER LEAGUE
Smolevichy 0 Energetyk-BGU 2 (115) 

SATURDAY 2nd MAY
PREMIER LEAGUE
FC Minsk 2 Torpedo BelAZ Zhodino 5 (173) 
Rukh Brest 1 Gorodeya 1 (323) 
Dynamo Minsk 1 Slutsk 2 (362) 

FIRST LEAGUE
Arsenal 1 Khimik Svetlogorsk 0 (150)  
Lokomotiv Gomel 3 Naftan 3 (360) 
Volna 3 Oshmyany 2 (320)
Orsha 0 Smorgon 0 (200) 

SECOND LEAGUE
GROUP A
Chayka Zelva 0 Pershiy Regien 1 
Kronon 1 Meliorator Zhitkovichi 2 
Baranovichi 9 Ivatsevichi 1 
BGU Minsk 0 Ostrovets 3
Molodechno-DYuSSh 3 Stenles Pinsk 2 

GROUP B 
Polotsk 8 Dnepr Rogachev 2 
Bumprom 4 Zhlobin 0
Viktoriya Maryina Horka 2 Energosbyt-BSATU 2
Gorki 1 Shakhtyor Petrikov 4 
SMI Autotrans 0 Dnepr Mogilev 7 

SUNDAY 3rd MAY
PREMIER LEAGUE 
Belshina 0 Dynamo Brest 3 (1,374) 
Vitebsk 2 Slavia Mozyr 3 (408) 
BATE Borisov 3 Neman Grodno 1 (1,000)  
Shakhtyor 4 Isloch 0 (480) 

FIRST LEAGUE
Sputnik 2 Granit 0 (150) 
Lida 3 Slonim 0 (350) 
Krumkachy Minsk 1 Gomel 1 (400)

In the Premier League Slutsk continued their great start to the campaign with a 1-2 victory over Dynamo Minsk. The home side opened the game well with the visitors scoring against the run of play via Dramane Salou's goal from way outside the box on 22 minutes. They doubled the lead when fellow Brukino Faso countryman Abdoul Gafar's back heal on the edge of the box on 52 minutes. Dynamo pulled a late goal back via Karlo Brucic who scored his second goal of the season but it wasn't enough and the victory puts Slutsk top of the league over Torpedo Belaz Zhodino. 

 Match action from the Dynamo Minsk v Slutsk game (courtesy of @sfc.slutsk on insta)

Torpedo were top for a few hours after their emphatic 2-5 at FC Minsk earlier in the day. Former Smolevichy centre forward Valeri Gorbachik had a great day as he scored a first half hat-trick for Torpedo. Brazilian midfielder Lipe Veloso (currently on loan from Ukaranian side Lviv) scored Torpedo's fifth goal and his first for the club after four substitute appearances so far. 

BATE Borisov continued their good form with a routine 3-1 home victory against Neman Grodno. They are now five games unbeaten in league and cup scoring ten and letting in just one goal which was scored by Neman's Armenian International Gegam Kadymyan in the 31st minute. 

At the bottom of the table it's still Belshina and Smolevichy-STI who are without a win in their seven games played. Belshina were well beaten at home to reigning Champion's Dynamo Brest 0-3 with Smolveichy going down 0-2 at home to Energetyk. 

Dynamo are under new management for this season following the departure of Marcel Licka with Sergay Kovalchuk now in charge in his fourth spell with the club. The 0-3 win will ease some of the pressure that Kovalchuk was under following their indifferent start to the season - they also have their Belarusian Cup Final against BATE Borisov on Wednesday 20th May to look forward to. 

In the First League several teams started the campaign with points deductions (Gomel: -5 points, Naftan: -15 points, Lida: -3 points, Khimik Svetlogorsk: -9 points and Orsha: -3 points) so it's still very early days in the table with just three games played so far. Krumkachy Minsk and Lokomotiv Gomel are curently top on 7 points - no side has 100% winning records. Krumkachy Minsk drew 1-1 with Gomel (relegated from the Premier League last season) with former Gorodeya player Dmitri Lebedev scoring in the 79th minute (his third goal of the season) to make it 1-1 after Dmitiri Gomza (was with Smolevichy in the Premier League last season) scored for Gomel in the 42nd minute from the penalty spot. 

Volna Pinsk, who have only ever played in the First and Second Leagues since they were formed in 1987 had a good 3-2 home win over Oshmyany (formed in 2012). Denis Kovalevich, Andrey Mikhalchuk and an own goal saw Volna get their first win of the season following a 0-0 draw and 2-0 defeat in their opening two games.  

Match action from Volna Pinsk 3 Oshmyany 2 (courtesy of @fcvolna on Insta) 

In the Second League it was a better weekend for Chakya Zelva following their 15-0 defeat previously. They lost 0-1 at home to Pershiy Regien. In Group A Ostrovets FC, Meliorator Zhitkovichi (both 3 games played) and Molodechano-DyuSSH (two games played) are the only sides left with 100% winning records.  

In Group B there are also three teams with 100% winning records - Shakhtyor Petrikov (3 games) along with Dnepr Mogilev and Bumprom (2 games) have won all of their games so far. Dnepr and Bumprom have done so without letting in a goal so far. 

Dnepr are expected by many fans to do well this season - they were Premier League champions in 1998 and one of the strongest teams in the country in the late 1990s. They were relegated in 2011 but did achieve promotion back at the first attempt but then went down again to the First League for the 2015 and 2016 seasons before promotion back to the Premier League for the 2017 campaign. 

In spring 2019, the club merged with Premier League team Luch Minsk with the united club was named Dnyapro Mogilev. It inherited Luch's Premier League spot and most of the squad while keeping only a few of the Dnepr players and relocating to Mogilev. 

Dnyapro Mogilev ceased to exist following their relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2019 campaign - they lost the play-off to Rukh Brest with Dnepr Mogilev reforming for the 2020 campaign in the Second League - they play in the 7,350 capacity Spartak Stadium. 

THE BADGE OF DNEPR MOGILEV WHO PLAYED IN THE 1999/2000 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AS WELL AS GETTING TO THE PLAY-OFF ROUND OF THE 2010/11 EUROPA LEAGUE WHERE THEY LOST TO SPANISH SIDE VILLAREAL - THEY ARE EXPECTED TO DO VERY WELL IN THE SECOND LEAGUE GROUP B THIS SEASON. 

WEEKEND FIXTURES
Kick Off times UK Time

PREMIER LEAGUE

Friday 8th May 
Slutsk v Energetyk-BGU 3pm 
Gorodeya v FC Minsk 5pm 

Saturday 9th May
Slavia Mozyr v Torpedo BelAZ 1pm 
Neman Grodno v Rukh Brest 3pm 

Sunday 10th May
*Super Sunday with four games kicking off over the space of six hours*
Isloch v Belshina 12pm 
Vitebsk v Shakhtyor 2pm
Smolevichy-STI v BATE Borisov 4pm
Dynamo Brest v Dynamo Minsk 6pm 

FIRST LEAGUE 

Saturday 9th May
Smorgon v Lida 11am 

Sunday 10th May
Khimik Svetlogorsk v Sputnik 12pm
Oshmyany v Orsha 1pm 
Naftan v Slonim 2pm 
Gomel v Arsenal 3pm 
Granit v Volna 4pm 

Monday 11th May
Lokomotiv Gomel v Krumachy Minsk 4pm 

SECOND LEAGUE

GROUP A 
Friday 8th May 
Meliorator Zhitkovichi v BGU Minsk

Saturday 9th May
Baranovichi v Kronon
Dinamo Malorita v Ivatsevichi
Ostrovets FC v Chayka Zelva
Pershiy Regien v Molodechno-DYuSSh 

GROUP B 
Saturday 9th May
Dnepr Mogilev v Viktoriya Maryina Horka
Shakhtyor Petrikov v Polotsk
Dnepr Rogachev v Bumprom
Osipovichy v SMI Autotrans
Energosbyt-BSATU v Gorki

The majority of the Premier League games can be found on 'You Tube' or 'My Cujoo' with a few of the First League and Reserve League games too. Please also give the fantastic @MottysMic a follow on twitter who has been provided some brilliant commentary of the games on cwsportradio.com. 

Current odds for the Premier League title
from bet365.com
BATE Borisov 10/11 
Dyanmo Brest 11/4 
Shakhytor Soligorsk 4/1 
Torpedo Zhodino 16/1 
Dynamo Minsk 25/1 
Slutsk 25/1 
All other 50/1 + 

The above shows the odds bet365.com are offering for the Premier League title - I think some of the Slutsk fans worldwide might be putting a few pounds down on them - You can get 50/1 with skybet.com! It's no surprise to see BATE Borisov at 10/11 favourites - Please gamble responsibly.