© EuroFootball.com
After the break of international matches, the final battles of the 2005 season of the "A League" championship began on Saturday. The league leader "Ekranas" took another important step towards the champion title by defeating "Vėtra", who hold the third position, at home. The league leader, "Kaunas", did not leave any hopes for "Šilutė", and achieved crushing victories by "Sūduva" and "Vilnius", while "Žalgiris" and "Atlantas" played a draw.
In the most interesting match of the round, Panevėžys' "Ekranas" hosted Vilnius' "Vėtra", who is aiming for a spot in the European tournament next season, and to the delight of over a thousand spectators at the "Aukštaitija" stadium, they won with a minimal lead after a goal from P. Lukšys in the 9th minute. This victory allows the people of Panevėžys to relax a little before the last five rounds - four of them will be played away, including the match against "Kaunas", but in order to become champions, "Ekranas" only needs to collect six points until the end of the competition.
"Kaunas", who is still ten points behind "Ekranas" and has not completely lost hope of the Lithuanian champions title, had an easier time at home against the "Šilutė" team, winning by a five-goal margin. A.Velička and R.Beniušis each scored two goals for Kaunas, while L.Pilibaitis added one late in the game, helping his team surpass the opponents from Panevėžys at least in terms of goals scored this season.
Marijampolė's "Sūduva" does not lose hope of climbing to third place, as they convincingly defeated "Šiauliai" away. In the first half, A.Veikutis put the Marijampolė team in the lead, later V.Adomaitis added another goal, followed by goals from M.Uselis and O.Braga in the second half, while "Šiauliai" scored a consolation goal at the end of the match through E.Varnas. "Sūduva" is now ahead of "Vėtra" by 5 points, but the Vilnius team has a match against "Kaunas" on Tuesday, and before the last round, both teams will meet and determine their relationship in a direct duel.
Jumping to fifth place, two points ahead of "Šilutė", is "Vilnius", who forced Kėdainiai's "Nevėžis" to suffer their 26th defeat of the season and remain without victories. The scorers for the winners were three defenders - V.Lukša, the team's top scorer M.Panka, and R.Radavičius.
In one of the biggest disappointments of the season in Klaipėda, neighbors on the tournament table "Atlantas" and Vilnius' "Žalgiris" played to a draw for seventh place. The Žalgiris team, who registered just four substitutes, took the lead early on with a goal by J.Dovkša in the second minute, but towards the end of the first half, Lithuanian national team forward A.Laurišas equalized the score and helped his team to secure at least a point, which seems more favorable for the "Žalgiris" team - if they manage to beat "Vilnius" in the postponed match, both clubs would be tied on points and share fifth place.
The next round of the "A League" will take place on Tuesday, and the following weekend, the championship matches will be briefly suspended due to the LFF Cup final competition - the battle for the second most prestigious trophy in Lithuania between the home team and the two-time defending champions "Kaunas" will take place at Vilnius' "Vėtra" stadium on October 22.
Round 31 statistics
- Šiauliai Central Stadium, 300 spectators
- Referee - Gediminas Mažeika
- 1 - 4
- Goals: 20' [0 - 1] Audrius Veikutis, 37' [0 - 2] Vidas Adomaitis, 64' [0 - 3] Mantas Uselis, 80' [0 - 4] Ottavio Braga, 89' [1 - 4] Egidijus Varnas
- Teams:
- "Šiauliai": Arlauskis; Juodeikis, Oriol, Lunskis, Rukas (46' N.Garuckas); Tučinskij, Krukovski (80' Biečius), Šidlauskas, Atigbiolaye (46' A.Garuckas); Butavičius, Varnas
- "Sūduva": S.Klevinskas; Gvildys, Grigas (46' D.Maciulevičius), Veikutis, B.Čigladze; Aleksa, V.Adomaitis, Cordeiro, Afanasenka (74' Braga); V.Slavickas (46' Uselis), Radzinevičius
