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The goalkeeper of the Lithuanian national team, Darius Miceika, contributed to the goals scored by compatriots in foreign clubs over the weekend - the Lithuanian who stood out with a wonderful strike into the Scotland national team's goal on Sunday already scored two goals in the Latvian championship and helped the "Lithuanian" Liepaja "Metalurgs" club to win.
Benjamin Zelkevicius' "Metalurgs," who is currently not very successfully defending the title of champions, met with the "Riga" club, which occupies the penultimate place in the 21st round at home, and D.Miceika took the hosts forward already in the third minute after Tomo Tamosauskas' pass.
However, in the 14th minute, after Robertas Mezeckis converted a penalty from 11 meters, the score became equal, but then D.Miceika took the initiative again, and with Pavelas Surninas lifting the ball from the edge, the Lithuanian scored his and the team's second goal, restoring the "Metalurgs" lead.
With six minutes left in the match, Liepaja's team secured the victory with a third goal by Girts Karlsons, so after 18 matches, "Metalurgs" with 38 points remained in third place. D.Miceika and Vadimas Petrenko played the whole game for the winners, Mindaugas Kalonas was replaced by Arturas Rimkevicius in the 75th minute, and in the 80th minute, Nerijus Astrauskas replaced T.Tamosauskas.
For D.Miceika, who also stood out in the previous round against "Dinaburg," this was already his ninth goal in the 2006 Latvian championship. Prior to that, the defender had last beaten the opponent's goalkeeper almost four months ago in the 7th round against "Riga," when he extended his excellent season start by scoring for the sixth time.
Other "Virsliga" leaders also secured victories - "Ventspils" with Deimantas Bicka playing 89 minutes and Igor Stukalinas appearing on the field in the 84th minute beat Daugavpils "Dinaburg" 3-0, while Ryga's "Skonto" won 2-0 away against Daugavpils "Ditton." Now "Ventspils" and "Skonto" have gathered 46 and 43 points, respectively, but have played 19 and 20 games.
Meanwhile, the "Jurmala" team, whose goal was defended by Gintaras Stauche, won 3-0 against Daugavpils "Ditton" and secured fifth place.
League table (place, team, played, won, lost, drawn, goals, points) 1. "Ventspils" 19 14 4 1 36-12 46 2. Riga's "Skonto" 20 13 4 3 42-11 43 3. Liepaja's "Metalurgs" 18 11 5 2 45-13 38 4. Daugavpils "Ditton" 19 8 6 5 25-21 30 5. "Jurmala" 20 8 3 9 29-29 27 6. Daugavpils "Dinaburg" 18 6 3 9 20-25 21 7. Riga's "Riga" 20 3 2 15 12-44 11 8. Rezekne's "Dižvanagi" 20 0 1 19 7-61 1
Top scorers 1. Jurgis Kalns ("Jurmala") - 12 goals 2. Mihails Miholaps ("Skonto") - 11 3. Girts Karlsons ("Metalurgs") - 10 4-5. Darius Miceika ("Metalurgs"), Aleksandrs Katasonovs ("Metalurgs") - 9 each 6-9. Kristaps Grebis ("Metalurgs"), Igors Slesarcuks ("Ventspils"), Aleksejs Visnakovs ("Skonto"), Vitas Rimkus ("Ventspils") - 7 each ... Mindaugas Kalonas ("Metalurgs") - 4 ... Deimantas Bicka ("Ventspils"), ... Nerijus Astrauskas ("Metalurgs") - 2 each ... Igor Stukalinas ("Ventspils") - 1.
