Sunday, 19 March 2023

MARTYNOV AND FRANTUZOV TWO OF THE STARS ON THE OPENING WEEKEND OF THE BELARUSIAN PREMIER LEAGUE

CELEBRATION TIME FOR THE YOUNG FC MINSK SQUAD
(courtesy of @minsk1954)

The theme for the opening weekend of the Belarusian Premier League was youth. The first goal of the season was scored by 17 year old FC Minsk attacker Timofey Martynov - his side won 2-0 against Slavia Mozyr with the average age of the ten players who started in outfield positions being just 19.1 years of age. 

BATE Borisov won 0-2 at Gomel with 18 year old midfielder Alexander Frantuzov scoring their second goal. 

It was nearly a fantastic result for First League Champions Naftan Novopolotsk who went down 2-1 at Shakhtyor Soligorsk with an 88th minute equaliser disallowed for a debatable foul on Shakhtyor's goalkeeper. The home side's second goal was scored by 20 year old Maksim Kovalevich which was his first goal in the Premier League. He has spent the last two seasons with Shakhtyor Petrikov - He scored 22 goals in 24 games for Shakhtyor Soligorsk II in the 2020 reserve league. 

Naftan only had Artem Drabatovich and Ignati Sidor left from the the starting XI in their final game of the 2022 First League season. 

The big winners of the weekend were Dynamo Minsk who won 3-0 against Isloch with Brazilian Orinho on the score sheet alongside Vladimir Khvashchinskiy and Vladislav Morozov. Khvashchinskiy scored 22 goals in 27 games for FC Minsk last season and could be a key player for Dynamo - Morozov scored against his former club. 

Last season's runner's up Energetik-BGU won 1-0 at home to Slutsk via Ilya Grischenko goal - they spent much of the game with ten men following Yamoussa Camara's red card (second yellow) on 40 minutes. 

The only other red card of the weekend came in Dynamo Brest's 0-1 home defeat to Torpedo Zhodino where Edgar Olekhnovich was red carded just prior to the half time whistle for an off the ball clash. Former Rukh Brest and Dynamo player Evgeniy Shevchenko scored the only goal of the game watched by a crowd of 6,137 which was the top crowd of game week one. 

In the final game of the weekend it was Smorgon who picked up three points on their return to the top tier with a 1-0 home win over Belshina Bobruisk. 19 year old Matvey Dukso's free kick in the 85 minute bounced in front of Belshina's keeper Aleksay Kharitonovich who was unable to make the save. The home side had missed a penalty kick in the first half via former Krumkachy Minsk player Vitali Litkhtin. 

RESULTS 
FRIDAY 17th MARCH 
FC MINSK 2-0 SLAVIA MOZYR (543)

SATURDAY 18th MARCH 
SHAKHTYOR SOLIGORSK 2-1 NAFTAN NOVOPOLOTSK (1,150)
GOMEL 0-2 BATE BORISOV (1,200)
DYNAMO MINSK 3-0 ISLOCH (3,150
DYNAMO BREST 0-1 TORPEDO ZHODINO (6,137)  

SUNDAY 19th MARCH 
ENERGETIK-BGU MINSK 1-0 SLUTSK (477)
SMORGON 1-0 BELSHINA BOBRUISK (820)

NOT IN ACTION - NEMAN GRODNO 

FIXTURES 
FRIDAY 24th MARCH 
BELARUS u21 v ANDORRA u21 -  UEFA EURO 2025 QUALIFYING GROUP G
being played in Armenia due to the current UEFA ban on International matches being played in Belarus 

SATURDAY 25th MARCH 
BELARUS v SWITZERLAND - UEFA EURO 2024 QUALIFYING GROUP I
being played in Serbia due to current UEFA ban on International matches being played in Belarus 

TUESDAY 28th MARCH 
GREECE u21 v BELARUS u21 - UEFA EURO 2025 QUALIFYING GROUP G 
ROMANIA v BELARUS - UEFA EURO 2024 QUALIFYING GROUP I 

FRIDAY 31st MARCH 
NAFTAN NOVOPOLOTSK v GOMEL 

SATURDAY 1st APRIL 
SLUTSK v FC MINSK 
TORPEDO BELAZ ZHODINO v SMORGON 
ISLOCH v DYNAMO BREST 

SUNDAY 2nd APRIL 
BATE BORISOV v ENERGETIK-BGU 
NEMAN GRODNO v SHAKHTYOR SOLIGORSK 
SLAVIA MOZYR v DYNAMO MINSK 

NOT IN ACTION - BELSHINA BOBRUISK 

THE FIRST LEAGUE OPENING WEEKEND'S FIXTURES TAKE PLACE ON THE WEEKEND OF THE 1st and 2nd APRIL - MORE NEWS ON THESE GAMES SOON. 

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