IS IT DOWN TO A BATTLE BETWEEN THREE TEAMS IN THE BELARUSAIN FIRST LEAGUE?

 BELARUSIAN FIRST LEAGUE CURRENT TABLE (TOP FOUR ONLY) 

POS	TEAM	P	G	GD	PTS	PP	FORM
1.	SPUTNIK	20	36-13	+23	46	64	WLWWW
2.	FC GOMEL	23	51-18	+33	45*	54	WWWWW
3.	KRUMKACHY	22	40-24	+16	43	55	DDWLW
4.	ARSENAL	23	35-26	+9	37	46	LWLWL

BOLD denotes promoted, * denotes five points deducted, denotes promotion/relegation play-off.

VLADIMIR KARP DOES HIS OLD TEAM A BIG FAVOUR

It was a bad weekend for Arsenal Dzerzhinsk who lost at home to mid-table Lida. The 1-2 defeat really puts a dent (and almost an end) in their aspirations to finish in the third/play off position. 

Vladimir Karp and Miroslav Khlebosolov were the goal scoring heroes for Lida - Karp is a former Krumkahcy player so done his former club a massive favour in helping Lida to the victory. 

FC Gomel continued their fantastic form with a 2-0 home win over Oshmyany with goals coming from Artiom Vaskov and Dmitri Gomza. Vaskov's goal was his fourteenth of the season. The 32 year old midfielder has had the best season of his career so far - Since 2011 he played in the top tier for Vitebsk, Torpedo Zhodino, Neman Grodno, Smolveichy and Gorodeya as well as a short spell in Latvia with Ventspils. He played 133 games and scored 21 goals (a goal every 7 games) which has improved to every 1.5 games this season in the second tier. 

Krumkachy had a fright when Smorgon equalised in the 80th minute of their game only for Ivan Veras to score the winner in the 85th minute.

This Wednesday sees a huge game at Krumkachy welcome Sputnik - If it's a home win it will really liven things up at the top of an already exciting table. 

If Sputnik Rechitsa were to go up it will be the first time since 2001 the City with a population of around 65,000 will have a team in the top tier of Belarusian Football. Vedrich 97-Rechitsa (later renamed FC Rechitsa 2014) finished bottom of the table and were relegated. The club, formed in 1952, folded in early 2016 to replaced by Sputnik. 

You'll see from the crowds that they are down as a Gomel were getting around 1,800 for their games earlier in the season - this is due, I beleive, due to restrictions in place only allowing a set percentage of the capacity of stadiums to allow for social distancing. 

RESULTS

Saturday 31st October

FC Gomel 2-0 Oshmyany (350) 

Krumkachy 2-1 FC Slonim (250) 

Lokomotiv Gomel 2-1 Smorgon (35)

Khimik Svetlogorsk 0-0 Mikashevichi (80) 

Naftan 2-0 Volna Pinsk (100)

Sunday 1st November

Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 1-2 Lida (275) 

FIXTURES 

Wednesday 4th November

Smorgon v Naftan

Krumkachy v Sputnik

Saturday 7th November 

Lida v Sputnik 

Oshmyany v Lokomotiv Gomel 

Mikashevichi v FC Gomel 

Orsha v Volna Pinsk 

Sunday 8th November

FC Slonim v Arsenal Dzerzhinsk 

Smorgon v Krumkachy 

Khimik Svetlogorsk v Naftan

SPUTNIK RECHITSA, FC GOMEL and KRUMKACHY MINSK COULD ALL BE PLAYING THE TOP TIER FOR THE 2021 SEASON