Friday 26th June
Energetyk-BGU 5 Slavia Mozyr 0 (200)
Smolevichy-STI 2 Slutsk 1 (259)
Saturday 27th June
FC Minsk 1 Shakhtyor 1 (385)
Neman Grodno 1 Dynamo Brest 0 (2,100)
BATE Borisov 0 Dynamo Minsk 2 (4,280)
Sunday 28th June
Torpedo BelAZ 1 Vitebsk 0 (535)
Rukh Brest 3 Belshina 0 (662)
Gorodeya 0 Isloch 2 (723)
Firstly I would like to say sorry that there was no round-up last week - I simply just didn't have the time to fit it in. Normal service resumes today!
The big game of the weekend was Neman Grodno v Dynamo Brest which saw the home side go above last season's champions with a 1-0 win thanks to Pavel Zabelin's fourth goal of the season (a close range header) and his second goal in as many matches - It's Neman's sixth league win in a row and Dynamo's first defeat in five games and only the third league game they've failed to score in so far (the others being an away defeat to Vitebsk and a home defeat to Shakhytor).
(courtesy of FC Minsk on Instagram)
It was a really great weekend for Neman as both Shakhtyor and BATE above them in the table dropped points. Shakhtyor could only draw 1-1 at FC Minsk who pick up their first point in four games and BATE were beaten at home by Dynamo Minsk - Evgeni Shikavka (64 mins - a fantastic glancing header from just inside the penalty box following a cross from the right hand side) and Mikhail Kozlov (after poor defending he pass the ball into the back of the net on 66 mins) won the game for the visitors. Dynamo are now showing some form with three wins and a draw in their last four games. It was BATE's first league defeat in thirteen games. Mikhail Kozlov was outstading in midfielder for the visitors. Quite rightly Dynamo's loyal fans celebrated their victory as it's been eight league and two cup games (eight defeats and two draws) since Gleb Rassadkin (now of Neman Grodno) scored the only goal in their last victory against BATE in August 2015.
(courtesy of Dymano Minsk FC on twitter)
Neman could go to within one point of BATE should they win their game in hand! For a club whose top finish was second in 2002 could this be their year? Their Armenian International midfielder Gegham Kadymyan has been in great form (seven goals in fourteen games) since moving to the club and is somewhat of a talisman to their squad. We all know one player doesn't make a team so I have to point out that defender's Giorgi Kantaria and Daniel Stojkovic have also impressed as well as midfielder Andrey Yakimov. Veteran midfielder Valery Zhukovskiy, 36, has also chipped in with two goals when starting six games and coming off the bench four times.
On Friday Energetyk got back to winning ways in some style by beating Slavia Mozyr 5-0 thanks to two goals from Jasurbek Yaxshiboev and Vasili Sovpel scoring twice after coming on a substitute in the second half. Energetyk's victory looks all the more impressive when you see they played around 70 minutes of the game with just 10 men when Dusan Bakic was sent off early in the first half.
Slutsk's downward descent in the table continues with yet another defeat. Smolevichy recorded only their second win on the season and are now looking like they may climb out of the two relegation spots. Aleksandr Dzhigero was the hero for the home side scoring on 19 and 57 minutes. Slutsk got sixteen points from their first seven games (2.28 PPG which amounts to 'challenging for the title' winning form) but have since picked up only two points from eight games (0.25 PPG) - Where has it all gone wrong for Vitaliy Pavlov's side? Despite Slutsk taking an early lead it was the home side who looked the better going forward and could of won by more - saying that Slutsk were unlucky not to pick up a point late on when substitute Alan Koroev's shot rebounded off the post.
In the Torpedo Zhodino v Vitesbsk there was five Brazilian players involved with Gabriel Ramos and Lipe Veloso starting for the home side along with Dieago Carioca in the starting XI for the visitors. Julio Cesar (subbed on 11 mins) and Wanderson (on 46 mins) came on for Vitebsk during the game.
It was Ramos who broke the deadlock on 68 minutes with a low expertly placed shot from the edge of the box - the game ended 1-0. The attacking midfielder has been one of the stand out players in the Premier League so far this season. The 24 year old moved from Georgian club "FC Dinamo Batumi" where he scored 9 goals in 56 games in 2018 and 2019. He now has five goals in thirteen games so far this season.
In the second Sunday game it was last season's First League champion's Belshina travelling to First League play-off winner's Rukh. A measure on how the squads have changed moved up to the top tier is in that only goalkeeper Roman Stepanov (who performed miracles in their 1-1 draw against Shakhtyor last weekend) and defender Ilya Klpachuk remained in the starting XI for Rukh comapred to their First League game at Belshina in August 2019. Belshina had three players left (Konstantin Kuchinskiy, Samuel Odeyobo and Roman Salimov) in their starting line up.
It was all too easy for Rukh Brest in a routine victory for them against a Belshina side who gave away too much space at the back. Manager Eduard Grabodev will know his team need to stop conceding if they have any chance of staying up in the Premier League. That's easier said than done I suppose for a side who have now let in 32 goals in their 15 games which equates to 2.13 per game. Last season Torpedo Minsk finished bottom of the table but some of their games were awarded 3-0 wins after they withdrew midway through the season. Gomel who finished second bottom conceded 1.66 goals per games (50 in 30 games) so the omens don't look good for Belshina who may well return to the first league for 2021.
Rukh's goals came from Abdo Diallo, 19 year old Yaroslav Oreshkevich (who came on Diallo as subsitute) and Vladislav Vasiljev who was part of Dynamo Brest's title winning squad last season.
In the final game of Sunday it was Isloch who came away from Gorodeya with a 0-2 win. Isloch's first goal was scored by Alexksandr Makas on 3 minutes with a wonderful strike from just outside the box after some great hold up play by Momo Yansane. Then in the 54th minute it was Yansane who stepped up and scored a truly amazing goal when he received the ball on the edge of his own penalty box and ran the length of the pitch before calmly slotting the ball past Igor Dovgyallo in the home goal - It'll be a goal watched around the world I think and deserves to go viral on social media.
PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE
(TOP FIVE)
| POS | TEAM | P | GD | PTS | FORM |
| 1. | BATE BORISOV | 15 | +13 | 30 | WDDWL |
| 2. | SHAKHTYOR | 15 | +14 | 27 | WWDDD |
| 3. | NEMAN GRODNO | 14 | +8 | 26 | WWWWW |
| 4. | TOPEDO BELAZ | 15 | +5 | 26 | WDLDW |
| 5. | ENERGETYK | 15 | +7 | 26 | DLLDW |
(BOTTOM FOUR)
| POS | TEAM | P | GD | PTS | FORM |
| 13 | GORODEYA | 15 | -10 | 15 | LLWLL |
| 14. | FC MINSK | 13 | -10 | 14 | WLLLW |
| 15. | SMOLEVICHY | 14 | -8 | 10 | LWLLW |
| 16. | BELSHINA BOBRUISK | 15 | -22 | 6 | LLWLL |
PREMIER DIVISION TOP SCORERS
Yaxshiboev (Energetyk) - 9
Kadymyan (Neman Grodno) - 7
Lisakovich (Shakhtyor) - 7
Nekhajchik (BATE) - 7
Nicolaescu (Vitebsk) - 7
SOME RANDOM FACTS AND STATS ON THE PREMIER LEAGUE
* Only Smolevichy (15th) have not won away from home yet.
* No team is left without a home defeat.
* Shakhtyor (2nd) are the only side left unbeaten away from home.
* BATE (1st) have scored 19 goals on their travels which equates to 2.37 goals per game opposed to 10 at home (1.43 gpg).
* There are no teams left without a home draw.
* Slavia Mozyr, Slutsk, Isloch and Dynamo Brest are the teams without an away draw.
FIRST LEAGUE
Saturday 27th June
Naftan 3 Granit 0 (150)
Khimik Svetlogorsk 1 Oshmyany 4 (300)
Sputnik 3 Volna 1 (600)
Gomel 1 Smorgon 1 (1,800)
Sunday 28th June
Lokomotiv Gomel 0 Slonim 0 (150)
Arsenal 1 Orsha 0 (230)
Krumkachy 2 Lida 2 (250)
In the first league it's Sputnik Rechista thanks to their 3-1 win over Volna Pinsk. Dmitri Ignatenko scored their first goal - He has played in the Premier League previously with Dynapro, Shakhtyor, Granit and Gorodeya. Valeri Potorocha scored the second from the penalty spot before fromer Dyanmo Brest, BATE, Slutsk, Slavia Mozyr and Granit midfielder Vadim Kurlovich scored their third goal on 78 minutes.
Only Khimik (14th scored 3), Granit (12th scored 7) and Slonim (11th scored 5) have scored less than Smorgon but they are in and on course for a possible promotion push to the Premier League. So fat they have only let in four goals in ten games of which six of those have been clean sheets - every game they have played has resulted in under 2.5 goals (2, 2, 0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2 and 1) - even in their cup game their was only one goal which second league Baranovichi scored in a 1-0 upset.
Arsenal Dzerzhinsk, promoted from the Second League last season, who many people thought would do well this season have moved up to fourth place and are now only four points off the of the table with a game in hand.
FIRST LEAGUE TABLE (TOP FOUR ONLY)
| POS | TEAM | P | GD | PTS | FORM |
| 1. | SPUTNIK | 10 | +6 | 21 | WDWWW |
| 2. | SMORGON | 10 | +6 | 19 | WDLWD |
| 3. | KRUMKACHY | 10 | +8 | 17 | WLLWD |
| 4. | ARSENAL | 9 | +4 | 17 | WDDWW |
SECOND LEAGUE
GROUP A
Saturday 27th June
Chayka Zelva 2 Kronon 2 (200)
Ostrovets FC 1 Meliorator Zhitkovichi 2 (230)
Molodechno 5 Ivatsevichi 0 (150)
Stenles Pinsk 4 Dynamo Malorita 1 (250)
Baranovichi 5 Pershiy Regien 0 (200)
GROUP B
Saturday 27th June
Polotsk 0 Viktoriya Maryina Horka 3 (50)
Bumprom 5 SMI Autotrans 3 (57)
Zhlobin 0 Osipovichy 5 (120)
Shakhtyor Petrikov 2 Energosbyt-BSATU 0 (120)
Sunday 28th June
Dnepr Rogachev 1 Dnepr Mogilev 5 (300)
In the second league it was celebration time for Chakya Zelva as after 2-4, 0-15, 0-1, 0-8, 0-4 (Cup), 0-5, 0-13, 0-4 and 0-8 defeats they got a point! They drew 2-2 with Kronin (who are also without a win and just above them in the table) but it could of been all three points as they were 2-1 up going into 90+4 minutes when the visitors equalised. It gives 'The Seagull Team' (as they are known) some confidence going into next week's game with BGU Minsk.
It's tight at the top of the Group A table with just three points currently separating the top four. Dynamo Malorita lost 4-1 at Stenles Pinks in what could be a pivotal result for the home side in their quest for promotion to the second tier.
In Group B it's the game of the season so far next weekend as the two teams with 100% winning records clash as DNEPR Mogilev entertain Shakhtyor Petrikov - What a game this should be?
CURRENT GROUP A TABLE (TOP FOUR ONLY)
| POS | TEAM | P | GD | PTS | FORM |
| 1. | BARANOVICHI | 8 | +34 | 19 | WWWDW |
| 2. | MELIORATOR | 8 | +11 | 19 | WWDLW |
| 3. | STENLES PINSK | 8 | +21 | 17 | WDWDW |
| 4. | DYNAMO MALORITA | 8 | +8 | 16 | WWWDL |
CURRENT GROUP B TABLE (TOP FOUR ONLY)
| POS | TEAM | P | GD | PTS | FORM |
| 1. | DNEPR MOGILEV | 7 | +35 | 21 | WWWWW |
| 2. | SHAKHTYOR PETRIKOV | 7 | +31 | 21 | WWWWW |
| 3. | OSIPOVICHIY | 8 | +7 | 16 | DLWWW |
| 4. | BUMPROM | 8 | +2 | 13 | LDLLW |
No comments:
Post a Comment