© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday, the 2005 Lithuanian football season ended with four matches of the 36th round of the NFKA "A League". Marijampolė's "Sūduva" secured victory against Vilnius "Žalgiris" and a ticket to the next season's UEFA Cup tournament, while the Panevėžys team experienced a true shock as they witnessed the newly crowned national champions "Ekranas" being defeated by the 9th placed "Šiauliai" players.
One of the most important victories in the club's history was achieved by Marijampolė's "Sūduva", who became bronze winners in Vilnius. In a tough match against "Žalgiris", the only goal was scored by Marijampolė's goalkeeper Darius Maciulevičius after a great pass from Tomas Radzinevičius in the 81st minute.
Having already secured the gold medals two rounds ago, "Ekranas" not only lacked motivation for the final match but also had several key players missing due to injuries and suspensions - Aurimas Kučys, Gediminas Paulauskas, Mindaugas Gardzijauskas, and Donatas Petrauskas couldn't play, as well as Arūnas Klimavičius, Giedrius Tomkevičius, and Povilas Lukšys.
The guests took the lead in the 3rd minute after a goal scored by the most productive "Šiauliai" player Gediminas Butavičius, and although Valerijus Mižigurskis equalized in the 19th minute, G. Butavičius scored three more goals without response, while the fifth goal was scored by former "Ekranas" player Egidijus Varnas from the penalty spot.
That was only the second loss for "Ekranas" this season, and G. Butavičius became the only player to score four times against the Panevėžys team this season. Overall, V. Liubšys' players only conceded 23 goals in 36 matches and were the best in the league based on this statistic.
In a convincing but insignificant victory, Vilnius "Vėtra" achieved a win against "Šilutė" at home with a score of 3-1. Before this round, the capital club still had a chance to win bronze, but they needed "Sūduva" to lose. Without that happening, "Vėtra" fell two points behind Marijampolė and had to settle for fourth place in the championship, allowing them to participate in the Intertoto Cup next year.
In the final and least intriguing matches of the round, Klaipėda's "Atlantas" secured a narrow victory in Šilutė, defeating the "Vilnius" players and equalizing points with the "Žalgiris" team, overtaking them based on head-to-head results and claiming the 7th position. "Žalgiris", for the first time since independence, failed to secure a ticket to a European tournament, finishing in 8th place, while the 5th and 6th places were taken by "Vilnius" and "Šilutė", respectively.
