© EuroFootball.com
In the rescheduled 15th round match of the "A Lyga" on Wednesday, Vilnius "Žalgiris" and the reigning national champions FBK "Kaunas", who will participate in the Intertoto Cup tournament next month and have started the season poorly, met for the second time this year, with the Kaunas team securing their second victory in this duel.
Vilnius "Žalgiris" Stadium, 640 spectators 0 - 2 21' [0 - 1] Artūras Rimkevičius 69' [0 - 2] Artūras Rimkevičius
30' Givi Kvaratskhelia ("Kaunas") sent off the field
"Žalgiris": Malinauskas; Mikuckis, Jokšas, Gražiūnas, Paknys (46' Jašurek); Šilo (70' Miliškevičius), Lemežis, Bezykornovas, Stonkus; Morinas, Kaušpadas (46' Osipovič); "Kaunas": Kurskis; Sanajevas, Zelmikas, Regelskis, Kunevičius; Barevičius, Poderis, Kvaratskhelia, Ivaškevičius (78' Puotkalis); Rimkevičius (88' Beniušis), Velička (65' Tomašauskas)
Although in the first meeting between the teams, held at the Kaunas S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium, "Žalgiris" coach S. Širmelis fielded more substitutes, which sparked some discussions among football fans, this time the Vilnius team started the match with almost their strongest lineup - compared to the previous round, only the defenders M. Choruži and V. Petrenko were missing from the team.
Nevertheless, this did not help the Vilnius team, and in the 21st minute, the guests took the lead with a goal from A. Rimkevičius. However, after playing for half an hour, the "Kaunas" footballers were left with ten men when the Georgian G. Kvaratskhelia was sent off the field, but "Žalgiris" failed to take advantage of the numerical superiority, and in the 69th minute, the same A. Rimkevičius doubled the lead.
So "Kaunas" secured their sixth victory and climbed to second place, while this was already the fifth defeat for "Žalgiris". The next, ninth, round of the "A Lyga", which will be the last in the first round, will be played next Saturday, May 14.
