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Vilnius city football club "Žalgiris" beat Klaipėda's "Atlantas" 1:0 away.
The Klaipėda "Atlantas" team, playing defensively, resisted the Žalgiris team with all their might, but Calum Elliot took advantage of a gap in the defense in the 36th minute and scored a winning goal during a quick attack.
From the first minutes of the match, “Atlantas” footballers tried not to give up territorial advantage to the team of VMFD “Žalgiris”. Supported by a large crowd of fans, the Klaipėda team played energetically and tried to create their own attacks. After about fifteen minutes, the Žalgiris team gradually began to take initiative. Pressuring the opponents more and more, the Vilnius team finally forced the opponents to make more mistakes. From the thirtieth minute, VMFD “Žalgiris” began to siege the host’s goal. The pressure from Žalgiris quickly bore fruit. Calum Elliot, in the 36th minute, ran past the opponents and with a strong shot from a few meters, defeated the Klaipėda “Atlantas” goalkeeper during a fast attack. The visitors did not intend to reduce the pace after scoring a goal and continued to press the opponents, but they did not manage to score a second goal.
In the second half, the situation on the field did not change. "Žalgiris" rarely allowed opponents to come close to their goal, and in attack, they changed one attack for another. At the beginning of the half, Pavel Komolovas replaced Vaidotas Šilėnas and actively joined the game. In the middle of the second half, after the substitution, the player appeared to have two nearly identical opportunities to score, when his teammates accurately passed him the ball into the penalty area. Throughout the match, Tomislav Pekas, playing sharply, was involved in most of Žalgiris' attacks on the right side of the field.
Meanwhile, "Atlantas" defenders tried their best to defend and stopped every more dangerous breakthrough by the Croat with interceptions. Klaipėda players, putting all their effort in defense, mostly lost the ball in the attack as soon as they crossed over into Žalgiris' half of the field. VMFD “Žalgiris” did not score a second goal, but they also did not allow the opponents to create a single more dangerous chance.
Top scorers:
1. C.Elliot (Žalgiris) - 12 goals
2. R.Radavičius (Ekranas) - 7
3-4. A.Rimkevičius (Šiauliai) - 5
3-4. M.Savėnas (Ekranas) - 5
5-6. J.Moroz (REO) - 4
5-6. P.Lukšys (Sūduva) - 4
Atlantas (Klaipėda) - Žalgiris (Vilnius) 0:1 (0:1)
Referee: D.Rumšas (Palanga), 700 spectators
Goal: 37 min. C.Elliot ("Žalgiris")
Warnings: 54 min. I.Begič, 58 min. E.Užkuraitis ("Atlantas"); 86 min. A.Nagumanov ("Žalgiris").
