Klaipėda's "Atlantas" continued their excellent sprint in the "SMScredit.lt A League" championship final. The team from the port city, which won their fifth victory in six matches, defeated one of the main competitors in the battle for medals, the "Trakai" team, with a score of 1:0 (0:0) in one of the most important matches of the season and surpassed them in the tournament table. The team of the Old Capital Knights, who had been in second place for most of the season, is falling behind – the team lost their fourth match in a row.
In the first half, football fans did not see many dangerous moments. Neither team was able to secure an advantage in the midfield, so they conducted their attacks on the wings, but the defenders, who made no mistakes, reliably interrupted the passes towards the goal. The wet and heavy field did not allow the footballers to demonstrate their usual game.
In the 9th minute, after a duel between Gerardo Žukausko and Jurijus Mamajvas, the ball ended up with Ronaldo Solomon. Breaking into the penalty area, the Trakai player decided to finish the attack himself, but his shot from a sharp angle towards the goal missed.
"Atlantas" carried out most of their attacks on the left flank, where Donatas Kazlauskas played actively, but he was often marked by two or even three opponents, so the attempts to break through or pass the ball towards the goal were not successful.
The first shot on goal in the match was only taken in the 32nd minute, when after a pass to Ovidijus Verbickas, Lukas Baranauskas from Klaipėda tried his luck with a long-range shot, but did not cause big problems for Tadas Kauneckas.
"Trakai" responded with a dangerous attack a few minutes later. R. Solomon, breaking through on the right wing past two opponents, found Tadas Labukas in the penalty area with a high pass, but the striker, heading towards the goal, did not hit the target.
At the end of the first half, the match referee did not hear the visitors' plea to award a penalty kick for a handball in the penalty area after the ball sent towards the goal hit Rolandas Baravykas.
After the break, "Trakai" managed to create a couple of dangerous attacks. Firstly, after a pass from Andrius Lipskis, J. Mamajevas managed to get the ball past Edvinas Gertmonas, but he did it too strongly and missed his chance, sending the ball out of bounds. Later, after a corner kick towards the goal, R. Solomon, left unmarked, took a shot, but missed the goal.
"Atlantas" did not intend to close themselves in defense. In the 54th minute, Edgaras Žarskis went for a header. The defender found himself free next to the goalkeeper after dribbling towards the goal, but after a pass from the left, the forward lacked the skills to hit the ball and missed the target.
Five minutes later, the residents of Klaipėda broke forward. Successfully passing to Markus Beneta and L. Baranauskas on the wing, O. Verbickas, receiving the ball, broke through to the backline and with a sharp pass found D. Kazlauskas, whose shot Kauneckas had no chance to save.
In the middle of the half, "Trakai's" goalkeeper had to leave the penalty area and foul O. Verbickas after a lightning-fast attack by the home team. The match referee punished the goalkeeper's behavior with a yellow card.
After conceding a goal, the visitors increased the pressure on their opponents, but they were unable to create a decisive goal attempt, as E. Gertmonas was not supported by reliable defenders and the Trakai players did not hit the target. At the end of the match, the referee did not hear the pleas of Linas Klimavičius and Lukas Kochanauskas to award a penalty kick.
The disappointment of the "Trakai" team was already crowned during the compensatory time with a red card for a headbutt to the opponent, "awarded" to Dzmitrijus Koubas.
