© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday, five matches of the 8th round of the Lithuanian football "A League" championship were played, after which the teams that took advantage of the results in the league were "Kaunas" equalized with "Ekranas" and surpassed the teams of the capital city "Vilnius" and "Žalgiris". "Vėtra" climbed to fourth place, while "Šilutė" unexpectedly won against "Atlantas" as visitors.
According to the goal difference, the leader of the league "Vilnius" played at home against Marijampolė's "Sūduva", and although no goals were scored after the first half, immediately after the break, Vilnius was brought forward by the team's attacking leader Kleyras.
Later, another striker Muller and another Brazilian Rodnei added another goal each, so Tom Miklinevičius's accurate strike for the visitors was of little consolation - "Vilnius" convincingly won with a score of 3-1.
The next leader "Žalgiris" played away against "Šiauliai" and after a fierce battle won with a minimal lead of 1-0. In the middle of the second half, Igoris Morinas of Žalgiris missed an 11-meter penalty, and the only goal was scored in the 77th minute by Nikolajus Misiukas.
Two points behind the leading teams so far is the former defending champions "Kaunas", who, in the duel of last year's strongest teams, barely managed to snatch a draw of 1-1 with the not very successful starting Panevėžys "Ekranas" and dropped to the third position. "Ekranas" took the lead after a goal by team captain Mantas Savėnas, but the result was equalized by Marius Činikas with nine minutes remaining.
In fourth place is Vilnius' "Vėtra", who comfortably defeated Visaginas "Inter" at Žalgiris Stadium. One goal was scored by "Vėtra's" defender Gediminas Butrimavičius with a penalty kick, and another was scored in the second half by team's most productive player Vitalis Stankevičius.
The biggest surprise of the round was provided by "Šilutė", who also celebrated their first victory on Saturday, defeating Klaipėda's "Atlantas".
Statistics:
Visaginas 0 - 2 Vilnius
25' [0 - 1] Gediminas Butrimavičius
50' [0 - 2] Vitalis Stankevičius
Inter: Audrius Dilys; Denis Gordej, Vaidas Macianskis, Mantas Gribauskas, Vitalijus Savickas; Viktor Pašin, Rinaldo Neto (46' Jevgenij Moroz), Anton Naumov, Gintas Širmelis, Povilas Krasnovskis (57' Arvydas Novikovas); Artūras Jeršovas (46' Deivydas Matulevičius)
Vėtra: Vaidotas Žutautas; Andrej Usačiov, Pedro Botelho, Julius Raliukonis, Andrius Skerla; Nerijus Sasnauskas, Mindaugas Panka, Gediminas Butrimavičius, Egidijus Juška (78' Maksut Azizi); Limo Severino (66' Dejan Milošeski), Vitalis Stankevičius (73' Rolandas Karčemarskas)
0 - 1 Vilnius
77' [0 - 1] Nikolaj Misiuk
61' Igoris Morinas ("Žalgiris") missed an 11-meter penalty
Šiauliai: Giedrius Arlauskis; Vilius Lapeikis, Deividas Lunskis, Davidas Arlauskis, Egidijus Žukauskas; Vaidas Šilėnas, Mindaugas Lukoševičius, Gintaras Juodeikis, Intars Kirchners; Viktor Raskov, Valeriy Tsiganenko
Žalgiris: Ernestas Šetkus; Igoris Steško, Bertrand Ngapounou, Edvinas Lukoševičius, Anatolij Ostap; Raimondas Vileniškis, Virmantas Lemežis, Igoris Morinas, Iulian Bursuc; Valerijus Mižigurskis, Nikolaj Misiuk
Klaipėda 0 - 2
31' [0 - 1] Marius Bezykornovas
56' [0 - 2] Tadas Kijanskas
3 - 1 Marijampolės
47' [1 - 0] Kleyr Viera Dos Santos
75' [2 - 0] Muller Santos Da Silva
84' [3 - 0] Rodnei Francisko De Lima
90' [3 - 1] Tomas Miklinevičius
Vilnius: Pavel Leus; Ramūnas Radavičius, Darius Artiomovas, Rodnei, Andrejus Sokolovas; Paulinho, Binho, Andreson, Vytautas Lukša; Muller, Kleyr
Sūduva: Gytis Padimanskas; Vaidas Slavickas, Tomas Mikuckis, Marius Skinderis, Aleksandr Sobol; Nerijus Mačiulis, Tomas Miklinevičius, Sergiy Kozyuberda, Gvidas Juška; Willer Oliveira, Otavio Braga
1 - 1 Panevėžys
62' [0 - 1] Mantas Savėnas
81' [1 - 1] Marius Činikas
90' Ričardas Beniušis ("Kaunas") sent off the field
Kaunas: Mindaugas Malinauskas; Dainius Kunevičius, Mindaugas Bagužis, Nerijus Radžius, Adrian Mrowiec; Audrius Kšanavičius (65' Artūras Rimkevičius), Givi Kvaratskhelia, Oleg Strakhanovic, Edin Pehlič (56' Marius Činikas); Rafael Ledesma, Ričardas Beniušis
Ekranas: Bogdan Stefanovič; Gediminas Paulauskas, Laurynas Rimavičius, Linas Klimavičius, Alfredas Skroblas; Deimantas Bička (90' Dainius Saulėnas), Mantas Savėnas, Giedrius Tomkevičius, Sergiy Pogreban (63' Dominykas Galkevičius); Egidijus Varnas (58' Povilas Lukšys), Vitalijus Kavaliauskas
Standings:
