© EuroFootball.com
On Sunday, the country's I football league had matches for the 4th round. Once again, Kėdainiai's "Nevėžis", who played in the A league last year, secured another victory and became the absolute leader, now leading by 4 points ahead of the closest pursuers.
The Kėdainiai team at home defeated Ukmergė's "Vilkmergė" 2-0. The first goal was scored by the hosts only in the 71st minute, when after a counterattack, Aleksandras Popovas scored after Nerijus Kestenio's pass. The latter also scored the second goal, taking advantage of a mistake by the Ukmergė players and sending the ball from the right corner of the penalty area into the far corner of the goal. A.Popovas has already scored 5 goals this season and is currently the top scorer of the I league.
After the match, "Nevėžis" coach Vitalijus Stankevičius was pleased with the team's positive results: "I want to celebrate another victory, but winning them is getting harder. Today we felt a bit the losses of Valento Rabikauskas and Karolis Roko due to injuries. In the first half, we struggled, the combinations were not working out, but in the second half we played our typical football, created many chances, and deservedly won."
Pakruojo "Kruoja" at home faced the successful Kaunas "LKKA and Teledema" team that started the season well. The visitors quickly took the lead at the beginning of the match. Despite a clear gameplay advantage, it took a while for the Pakruojo players to score a goal, with the ball hitting the crossbar several times. Finally, in the 70th minute, Arūnas Šteinas equalized the result with a long shot from over 25 meters into the top corner of the goal. "Kruoja" did not stop attacking and at the end of the match, they earned a penalty kick, which was converted by the same A.Šteinas, securing victory for his team.
Due to renovation works on their own stadium, Jonavos "Lietava" played unexpectedly in Ukmergė and managed to beat one of the league favorites, "Spyris" - a team formed by "Kaunas Jėgeriai".
In Anykščiai, two newcomers - the "Anykščiai" club and Tauragės "Tauras" - met. The match, not on the best quality field, was intense and emotional.
In the first half, both teams created several chances to score. The hosts even scored a goal at the end of the half, when defender Saulius Pesliakas found the net, but the referees had already signaled an offside.
In the second half, after ten minutes, Tauragė team took the lead. During a counterattack, the ball ended up in the penalty area with defender V.Dragūnevičius, who accurately shot into the top left corner of the goal. In the remaining time, the Anykščiai team tried to equalize, but most of their shots were inaccurate, or saved by the "Tauras" goalkeeper.
Although "Anykščiai" lost all 4 matches so far, Gintaras Siciūnas, who defended the honor of Šiauliai in the past, remained optimistic: "The game is improving. There is a slight lack of understanding among us, but the men are combative, energetic, and victories are ahead of us. Today we could have scored several times. We just have to wait for the next matches, and I am sure we will do everything to score goals and win."
In Klaipėda, the "Glestum" club suffered a heavy defeat at home, losing 0-5 to Kaunas "Rodiklis".
In Gargždai, the struggling "Banga" met the former vice-champion Alytus "Alytis". The visitors started the match more actively and had territorial advantage in the first half, but did not create anything dangerous. Later the game evened out.
"Banga" started the second half very actively and in the 49th minute, created a good opportunity when A.Staponka shot after a corner, but his shot was blocked by defenders.
In the 75th minute, A.Jonauskas broke away from the "Alytis" defenders and inaccurately shot at the goal, and shortly after M.Kuros' pass A.Anisimenko unsuccessfully tried to chip the ball over the goalkeeper of "Alytis" G.Štreimikys.
The final quarter of the match belonged to the Alytus team, but the result did not change and the team from Gargždai earned their second point.
Statistics:
"Nevėžis" 2 – 0 "Vilkmergė" 71‘ [1 – 0] A.Popovas 88‘ [2 – 0] A.Popovas
"Kruoja" 2 – 1 "LKKA" 17‘ [0 – 1] J.Mikalauskas 70‘ [1 – 1] A.Šteinas 89‘ [2 – 1] A.Šteinas
"Lietava" 1 – 0 "Spyris" 32‘ [1 – 0] L.Januševičius
"Anykščiai" 0 – 1 "Tauras" 55‘ [0 – 1] V.Dragūnevičius
"Glestum" 0 – 5 "Rodiklis" 8‘ [0 – 1] G.Gurjevas 39‘ [0 – 2] T.Aleksa 43‘ [0 – 3] M.Tamulis 85‘ [0 – 4] E.Marciulevičius 90‘ [0 – 5] E.Marciulevičius
53‘ D.Bujanauskas ("Glestum") was sent off the field
"Banga" 0 – 0 "Alytis"
Standings:
