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"A Lyga" matches of the 17th round on Tuesday featured only two games - in a duel of leaders, Panevezys "Ekranas" defeated "Kaunas" away, while Klaipeda's "Atlantas" unexpectedly had to admit the superiority of "Siauliai" this time. One of the 17th round matches, in which "Vetra" will face "Suduva," will be played tomorrow. The match between "Silute" and "Nevezis" is postponed to August due to the reconstruction of the stadium in Klaipeda, and the match between "Zalgiris" and "Vilnius" is postponed due to Zalgiris' participation in the Intertoto Cup. Before this intriguing match, "Ekranas" had an eight-point advantage, but had to face its long-time rival in the battle for the championship title at their home stadium, Kaunas S. Darius and S. Girėnas Sports Center, and one of their leaders, A. Kucys, could not help the team. Nevertheless, the powerful Panevezys team, competing strongly this season, managed to defend against "Kaunas" attacks and broke through in the 15th minute - the away defender A. Klimavicius scored with a header after a penalty kick. After conceding a goal, the hosts stormed the opponent's goal, and in the 39th minute, a penalty was awarded for a foul against G. Barevicius in the penalty area, which was converted by T. Tamosauskas to level the score. In the second half, "Ekranas" again broke through in a similar time frame as in the first half - in the 59th minute, M. Savenas deceived two defenders on the right side of the penalty area and beat the "Kaunas" goalkeeper with a strong shot. This was the 10th goal of the season for the captain of the Panevezys team, making him the most productive player in the league. "Ekranas" maintained the advantage and for the second time this season, defeated "Kaunas," increasing the lead over the opponent to 11 points and showing that they are seriously prepared to break the dominance of "Kaunas" in the "A Lyga" this year. In the other matches of the day, "Siauliai," occupying the penultimate place in the league table, faced Klaipeda's "Atlantas," currently in third place, and caused a surprise by defeating their opponents with a two-goal margin - the first goal was scored by the Nigerian A. Atigbiolaye and the second was scored by G. Siciunas. "Atlantas" failed to win for the fifth game in a row, while "Siauliai" secured their second consecutive victory. The 18th round matches will be played next Saturday, on July 2nd. Statistics Kaunas S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium, 4000 spectators Referee - Audrius Žuta 1 - 2 15' [0 - 1] Arunas Klimavicius 39' [1 - 1] Tomas Tamosauskas (pen.) 59' [1 - 2] Mantas Savenas Kaunas: Kurskis; Zelmikas, Kancelskis, Regelskis, Kunevicius; Barevicius, Kvaratskhelia, Tamosauskas (85' Rimkevicius); Puotkalis (73' Poderis), Velicka, Beniusis Ekranas: Skrupskis; Klimavicius, Paulauskas, Skroblas; Savenas, Tomkevicius (87' Rimavicius), Gardzijauskas, Galkevicius (43' Saulenas), Mykolaitis (75' Mizigurskis); Kavaliauskas, Luksys Siauliai Stadium, 1200 spectators Referee - Aleksandras Jakubovskis 2 - 0 31' [1 - 0] Amaro Atigbiolaye 84' [2 - 0] Gintaras Siciunas Siauliai: Zutautas; Tucinskij (75' Kavolis), Lunskis, Rukas, Buividavicius, Juodeikis; Krukovski, Sidlauskas, Smilginas (55' Siciunas), Atigbiolaye; Butavicius Atlantas: Valius; Maciulevicius (60' Ringys), Sarunas, Zukauskas, Zigutis; Deveika, Petreikis, Bartkus, Zernys (76' Tautvydas); Zvingilas (15' Hamdouchi), Trakys
