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On Friday, the Baltic champion "Ekranas" team from Panevezys met with Simferopol's "Tavria" team in a friendly match in the Turkish city of Antalya and defeated the opponents with a score of 2-1.
"Tavria" 1 - 2 "Ekranas" 18' [0 - 1] Povilas Lukšys 63' [1 - 1] Edmar 87' [1 - 2] Vitalijus Kavaliauskas
"Ekranas": Skrupskis; L.Klimavičius, Skroblas, Rimavičius, Paulauskas; Petrauskas (Kavaliauskas), Tomkevičius, Šidlauskas (46' Pogreban), Savėnas (88' Padaigis), Bička (65' Saulėnas), Lukšys (83' Banys)
In the 18th minute, the leader of the team's attacks, Povilas Lukšys, put "Ekranas" ahead, later "Tavria" forward Aleksandras Kovpakas missed great opportunities to equalize the score.
In the middle of the second half, the Ukrainian team finally leveled the score - after Nerijus Vasiliauskas' strike, Brazilian Edmar directed the ball into the net. However, trying to snatch victory, "Tavria" failed to capitalize on several opportunities, and as the match approached the end, after a quick "Ekranas" counterattack, three Panevezys players broke away from two opponents and Vitalijus Kavaliauskas scored the winning goal.
Three Lithuanians played in "Tavria" - Irmantas Zelmikas and Andrius Jokšas played the entire match, while Nerijus Vasiliauskas was substituted in the 70th minute. Meanwhile, Andrius Veikutis and former "Šiauliai" player Ukrainian Ilja Galiūza represented the Simferopol team's reserves.
After the match, head coach Saulius Širmelis officially stated on the club's website that the match was really tough. At the beginning of the second half, the opponents' team had taken the initiative and put a lot of pressure on "Ekranas." The coach admitted that at times it seemed difficult to maintain the draw: "Our team came to win, and we did," - the coach rejoiced at the second consecutive victory.
Assistant head coach Albertas Klimavičius was convinced that Povilas Lukšys did what a forward should do - scored a goal: "He took advantage of a hundred percent opportunity."
The opponent team's "Tavria" goalkeeper Nerijus Vasiliauskas said that playing against his home country's club was not easy and believed that his team lacked only luck. "We had quite a few opportunities."
According to the official "Ekranas" website, the next friendly match for the Panevezys club will be on February 18th against another Ukrainian team competing in the championship - Zaporozhye's "Metalurgs."
