© EuroFootball.com
The "A lyga" championship is gaining momentum. On Wednesday, three more matches of the third round were played, and one late match is still ongoing. The favorites secured victories - defending champions "Ekranas" defeated "Žalgiris" away after a fierce battle, "Sudūva" narrowly beat their opponents at home, "Nevėžis" crushed "Šiauliai", and "Kaunas" avenged their cup defeat against "Atlantas". In Marijampolė, "Sūduva" clinched their second victory with a one-goal margin at home against the "Šilutė" team. The match started without much excitement. Both teams tried to find weaknesses in the opposing defense. In the first half, most of the action took place in the middle of the field, but neither team managed to create clear opportunities near the opponent's goal. Standout players for "Šilutė" were Tadas Papečkys and Nerijus Mačiulis. In "Sūduva," active players in the first half were Mantas Samusiovas, Giedrius Slavickas, Mantas Uselis, and Andrius Urbšys, who was in increasingly good form. The second half started with active play from "Sūduva." It was Andrius Urbšys who broke through the opponents' defense in the 65th minute and was unlawfully stopped in the penalty area, leading to a penalty kick. Davit Čigladzė's shot into Šarūnas Kilijonas' goal was strong and accurate, putting "Sūduva" ahead 1-0. Throughout the rest of the match, the visitors from Šilutė tried hard to equalize, but the well-organized defense of "Sūduva" resisted all their attacks. "Sūduva" secured 3 points in the tournament table and became one of the leaders of the championship. A thrilling match took place in Kaunas, where the "Kauno" team faced Klaipėda's "Atlantas," who had recently eliminated them from the LFF Cup. The hosts scored the first goal in the 35th minute through Marius Žaliūkas. He broke through the "Atlantas" goalkeeper Liudvikas Valius and sent the ball into the net. Before half-time, the goal scorer collided with an opponent. In the second half, M. Žaliūkas did not reappear on the field due to a diagnosed concussion. He was replaced by Georgian Givi Kvaratskhelia. The second half started very successfully for the vice-champions, with "Kaunas" leading 2-0 after 48 minutes thanks to a goal from Ričardas Beniušis. Three minutes later, "Atlantas" narrowed the gap to 2-1 through a penalty kick converted by their legionnaire Maksimas Morozovas. From the middle of the second half, the initiative belonged to the visitors, who attacked more frequently and won several corner kicks but couldn't equalize the score. "Kaunas" secured their second victory with a 2-1 result, while "Atlantas" suffered their second defeat. In the match in Šiauliai, the home team dominated against Kėdainiai's "Nevėžis," who had not won a single match last season. The first goal was scored in the 10th minute by the team's newcomer Ilja Galyuza, followed by another goal from Galyuza in the 19th minute. Viktor Afanasenko scored the third goal in the 38th minute, Andrius Šidlauskas added the fourth goal in the 73rd minute, and Galyuza completed a hat-trick with the fifth goal in the 88th minute. It is worth mentioning that Andrius Šidlauskas and Nigerian Amaro Atigbiolaye also had several chances to score for "Šiauliai," while the goalkeeper for "Šiauliai," the Latvian Ingus Lukovičs, had no work in these matches. After the match, "Šiauliai" coach Saulius Vertelis expressed satisfaction that his team managed to achieve the goals set in the first half. "We were mentally geared for victory," he said after the match. The "Šiauliai" coach praised the performance of right-back Andrius Šidlauskas in his team, stating that he "played very well, although he did not capitalize on several opportunities." Meanwhile, Lithuanian champions "Ekranas" clashed with local team "Žalgiris" in Vilnius and also aimed for a second victory. However, the "Žalgiris" team was not willing to surrender and was the first to attempt to attack the opponent's goal - earning a penalty kick in the penalty area, the hosts missed the ensuing pass, and a long-range shot flew over the goal. Although both teams started the match aggressively, "Ekranas" only attempted to attack the opponents' goal for the first time in the 20th minute, but the weak shot from Donatas Petrauskas was easily caught by goalkeeper Ernestas Šetkus. Towards the end of the first half, Tadas Labukas had a great opportunity to lead his team, but after several duels, the ball slipped next to the net. After avoiding conceding a goal, "Ekranas" seemed to wake up, and within a few minutes they created three dangerous attacks one after the other - first, D. Petrauskas' shot from 20 meters flew beside the goal, then the defenders managed to disturb another shot, and just a minute later, a long-range attempt by Giedrius Tomkevičius almost reached the goal. At the end of the first half, the guests also had a chance, but the header shot flew next to the post. After the break, "Ekranas" took control, and in the second minute of the second half, Mantas Savėnas struck a powerful shot slightly over the goal from about 18 meters, while after a "Žalgiris" counter-attack on the other side of the field, Virmantas Lemežis made a very dangerous pass into the penalty area, but Igoris Morinas failed to reach the ball. "Ekranas" intensified the attack on the "Žalgiris" goal, and although in the 50th minute a header from a guest player following a corner kick was brilliantly saved by E. Šetkus, just a minute later, near the penalty area, a penalty kick was awarded to the hosts for a foul against Povilas Lukšys, and M. Savėnas solidly shot the ball into the corner of the goal to put his team ahead. After conceding the goal, "Žalgiris" faltered, and the visitors took control of the game. In the middle of the half, after a head pass from M. Savėnas, G. Tomkevičius hit the post next to the goal, while in the 78th minute, after a collision in the penalty area, a penalty kick was awarded to the Vilnius team, which M. Savėnas converted with a precise shot into the goal, sealing the victory for "Ekranas." In the remaining part of the match, the Vilnius team failed to break through the opponent's defense, and the only threatening shot to A. Skrupskis' goal was from R. Vilėniškis with a weak attempt. At the end of the match, "Ekranas" missed a good chance to increase their lead, and the match ended with the country's champions claiming victory with a 2-0 score. In a post-match press conference, "Ekranas" coach Virginijus Liubšys praised the opponents' play: "It was a match of two completely different halves; in the first half, I liked the way "Žalgiris" played - they showed passion and commitment, but perhaps the team may have lacked luck or fortune, while in the second half, we played better." Meanwhile, "Žalgiris" coach Igoris Pankratjevas, who suffered his second consecutive defeat, was unhappy with the refereeing: "I would dare to say that we were 'murdered' by the referee - he awarded a penalty from 16 meters away from the goal when there was none, and after the goal, it was already difficult for us to play, although until then I was satisfied with our team's performance." Asked about the tough start to the season facing the two strongest opponents from last season, I. Pankratjevas stated that losing is unpleasant for anyone and did not read too much into the fixture list. Meanwhile, V. Liubšys praised the performance of captain M. Savėnas, who scored two goals, but awarded the title of best player of the match to defender Arūnas Klimavičius. Statistics Vilnius "Žalgiris" Stadium, 800 spectators Referee - Viktoras Chileckis 0 - 2 57 ' [0 - 1] Mantas Savėnas 78 ' [0 - 2] Mantas Savėnas (P) "Žalgiris": Šetkus; Gražiūnas, Rukštelė (73 ' Poderis), Aleksa, Deveika; Lemežis (84 ' Maksimovič), I.Steško, Puotkalis, Vilėniškis; Morinas, Labukas "Ekranas": Skrupskis; Klimavičius, Paulauskas, Banevičius, Skroblas; Petrauskas, Savėnas, Tomkevičius, Mihalčuks (68 ' Kučys); Lukšys (80 ' Kavaliauskas), Pogreban (46 ' Varnas) Marijampolė City Stadium 1 - 0 63 ' [1 - 0] Davit Čigladzė (P) "Sūduva": Padimanskas; Mikuckis, Gvildys, D.Čigladzė, Samusiovas; G.Slavickas (73 ' Grigas), Uselis, Urbšys (88 ' V.Slavickas), Miklinevičius; Cordeiro, Braga (58 ' Fomenko) "Šilutė": Kilijonas; Gaurilovas (81 ' Marozas), Juozaitis, Pacevičius, Butkus; Zubavičius (68 ' Judickas), Petrenko, Kižys (70 ' Podelis), Papečkys, Mačiulis; Grigalevičius Šiauliai City Stadium, 500 spectators Referee - Vijūnas Vasiliauskas 5 - 0 10 ' [1 - 0] Ilja Galyuza 19 ' [2 - 0] Ilja Galyuza 38 ' [3 - 0] Viktor Afanasenko 73 ' [4 - 0] Andrius Šidlauskas 88 ' [5 - 0] Ilja Galyuza "Šiauliai": Lukovičs; Oriol, Lunskis, Juodeikis, S.Galyuza; Lapeikis, Afanasenko, A.Šidlauskas (71 ' P.Šidlauskas), I.Galyuza; Atigbiolaye, Butavičius (73 ' Žukov) "Nevėžis": Jazokas; Dobilas, Rimavičius, D.Adomaitis (46 ' Venckus), Juknevičius; Rokas, Kestenis, Smilginas (59 ' Mykolaitis), Bezykornovas; Činikas, V.Stankevičius Kaunas "S.Dariaus and S.Girėnas" Stadium, 622 spectators Referee - Paulius Malžinskas 2 - 1 35 ' [1 - 0] Marius Žaliūkas 48 ' [2 - 0] Ričardas Beniušis 51 ' [2 - 1] Maksim Morozov (P) "Kaunas": Malinauskas; Zelmikas, Kančelskis, Bagužis, Manchkava; Pehlič (74 ' Barevičius), Žaliūkas (46 ' Kvaratskhelia), Ivaškevičius, Pilibaitis; Klimek (59 ' Velička), Beniušis "Atlantas": Valius; E.Žukauskas (72 ' Laurišas), D.Žutautas, Sulejmanovič, Ramonas; Morozov, Navikas, Gedgaudas (69 ' Petreikis), Bartkus; Žvingilas (87 ' Poljakov), Trakys Tournament Table: "
