РЭЛЕГАЦЫЯ FOR THE SMOLES - BELARUSIAN PREMIER LEAGUE WEEKEND ROUND UP

BELARUSIAN PREMIER LEAGUE CURRENT TABLE (TOP SIX AND BOTTOM FOUR ONLY)

POS	TEAM	P	GF-GA	GD	PTS	PP	FORM
1.	BATE BORISOV	27	59-31	+28	53	62	WWLDW
2.	SHAKHTYOR	26	45-16	+29	49	62	LWLLW
3.	NEMAN GRODNO	27	35-25	+10	47	56	WWWLL
4.	DYNAMO BREST	26	53-34	+19	47	59	WWWWW
5.	TORPEDO ZHODINO	27	47-33	+14	47	56	WWLWW
6.	DYNAMO MINSK	27	34-23	+9	45	54	LWWWW

BOLD denotes Champions and Champions League place for 21/22. 

Denotes Europa League place for 21/22

POS	TEAM	P	GF-GA	GD	PTS	PP	FORM
13.	GORODEYA	27	26-42	-16	27	36	LLDWW
14.	SLUTSK	26	29-53	-24	24	36	LLWLL
15.	BELSHINA	25	28-48	-20	20	35	WWLDL
16.	SMOLEVICHI	27	26-65	-39	14	23	LLLLLL

BOLD denotes relegation places. Denotes relegation play-off.

The writing has unfortunately been on the wall for Smolevichi for a number of weeks but their relegation was confirmed on Saturday after a 4-0 defeat at Gorodeya - A result which helps out The Village Team in their fight to avoid finihsing in the bottom three of the table. It was the first time since Friday 2nd November 2018 that Gorodeya had scored 4 in a game. That time they 0-5 at FC Minsk in the Premier League. Gorodeya's goals came via an OG along with Russian Dhzamal Diborgadzhiev (24) and French player Didine Djouhary (21) - substitute Mikhail Shibun, 24, got his first goal of the season. 

Both Diborgadzhiev and Djouhary were making their second starts of the season and their goals were their first for their new club. Diborgadzhiev could be the answer to Gorodeya's lack of goals - He scored 12 goals in 16 games for Russian third tier side FK Chernomorets Novorossiysk prior to joining Oleg Radushko's side. Djouhary joins from Shakhtyor Soligorsk.

I hope that Smolevichi can re-group and have a better season in the 2021 First League if they continue to play at this level. All Aleksey Mikhaylov and his squad can do for now is try to enjoy their last three games in the league against Neman Grodno and Slavia at home along with a final day trip to Slutsk. 

THE SMOLES RECENT RECORD SINCE PROMOTION TO THE FIRST LEAGUE 

SEASON	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS	POS
2013 FL	30	12	8	10	50	37	+13	44	8/16
2014 FL	30	12	4	14	37	41	-4	40	10/16
2015 FL	30	13	8	9	47	37	+10	47	7/16
2016 FL	26	9	7	10	38	29	+9	34	8/14
2017 FL	30	18	4	8	46	22	+24	58	2/16 P
2018 PL	30	5	9	16	21	39	-18	24	15/16 R
2019 FL	28	19	7	2	60	15	+45	64	2/14 P
2020 PL	27	3	5	19	26	65	-39	14	16/16*

P denotes promoted. R denotes relegated. * denotes season still in play 

At the top of the table BATE are now four points clear thanks to their 3-1 home win over Vitebsk with Maksim Skavysh scoring two goals. Neman Grodno's home defeat against Slavia Mozyr including a highly controversial penalty awarded to the visitors when Aleksey Legchilin tripped Islam Tlupov outside of the box when he was through on goal. It was a foul but the replay show it was clearly outside of the box - Legchilin was sent off and Gleb Shevchenko, minus the dreadlocks that made him a cult hero amongst English fans earlier in the season, scored the penalty with Francis Narh's curling shot coming off the post and then in off the unlucky Neman goalkeeper Dmitri Dudar. 

The defeat could have huge implications on Neman's bid for European football for the 21/22 season - they were last in the Europa League in the 2014/15 season when they lost to Icelandic side Fimleikafelag Hafnarfjardar. 

2019 Champion's Dynamo Brest are the form side of the division winning their last six games in row scoring twenty goals and letting in nine. 

 

RESULTS 

Wednesday 21st October 

FC Minsk 2-1 Slavia Mozyr (100) 

Thursday 22nd October  

Dynamo Brest 3-1 Slutsk (2,542)

Saturday 24th October 

Gorodeya 4-0 Smolevichi (186) 

BATE 3-1 Vitebsk (1,509)  

Dynamo Minsk 3-1 Belshina (743)  

Sunday 25th Ooctober 

Neman 1-2 Slavia Mozyr (???)

Energetik-BGU 1-2 Shakhtyor Soligorsk (150) 

Rukh Brest 1-1 Isloch (472)  

Monday 26th October 

FC Minsk 1-2 Dynamo Brest (320) 

Torepdo Zhodino 4-1 Slutsk (675) 

FIXTURES 

Friday 6th November 

Isloch v Minsk 

Vitebsk v Rukh Brest 

Saturday 7th November 

Smolevichy v Neman Grodno 

Slutsk v Gorodeya

Dynamo Brest v Torpedo BelAZ 

Shakhtyor v BATE 

There are two huge games in the next set of fixtures - Gorodeya's trip to Slutsk is a massive relegation six pointer for both sides! Then Shakhtyor v BATE is a real clash of the title challengers - A draw or win for BATE would firmly put them in the driving seat for the championship with a Shakhtyor victory really making the final games interesting. The bookies currently make BATE 4/7 favourites with Shakhytor on 13/8 - Neman are 16/1 with Dynamo Brest rated at 100/1. 

Sunday 8th November 

Belshina v Energetyk-BGU

Slavia Mozyr v Dynamo Minsk