© EuroFootball.com
In the Lithuanian "A lyga" championship on Saturday, the 11th round match began with the second round. Due to the holiday in Marijampolė, the day started with an early match where the local team "Sūduva" met "Vėtra" and managed to recover from a missed goal and achieved a draw against the opponents who played with ten players.
Marijampolė "Sūduva" stadium, 2200 spectators Referee - Audrius Kancleris 1 - 1 42` [0 - 1] Bobi Božinovski 75` [1 - 1] Vaidas Slavickas
In the 50th minute, Donatas Vencevičius ("Vėtra") was sent off the field.
"Sūduva": Padimanskas; D.Čigladze, Mikuckis, Grigas, Samusiovas; V.Slavickas (86` Adomaitis), Miklinevičius, Gvildys, Maciulevičius, G.Slavickas (68` B.Čigladze); Braga (46` Cordeiro)
"Vėtra": V.Žutautas; Sasnauskas, Raliukonis, Žudys, A.Jankauskas; Milošeski, Preikšaitis, Vencevičius, Božinovski (81` Dančenko); R.Karčemarskas (67` Lovčev), Kuznecov
Before the halftime, in the 42nd minute, "Vėtra" took the lead. Donatas Vencevičius sent a precise high pass to Sergej Kuznecov inside the penalty area. Although the defenders of "Sūduva" marked the most effective "Vėtra" striker, the Ukrainian was not allowed to shoot. The ball fell to Bobi Božinovski, who was on the edge of the penalty area, and the Macedonian sent the ball into the far bottom corner of the goal from 16 meters with a very precise shot.
However, after the break, just three minutes later, the match referee Audrius Kancelis showed a yellow card to Donatas Vencevičius for the second time and the defender was sent off the field. From the 50th minute, "Sūduva" gained a numerical advantage, so playing with ten men, the "Vėtra" players were forced to defend.
They managed to do so successfully until the 75th minute, when Vaidas Slavickas, who infiltrated into the penalty area, equalized the score. Although playing without the expelled player, "Vėtra" could have stolen the victory at the end of the match - in the second minute of additional time, "Sūduva" was saved from defeat by fortune, as after a powerful shot from Dejan Milošeski from 30 meters, the "Sūduva" goalkeeper failed to catch the ball, and it hit the crossbar.
The match ended in a 1-1 draw. For the "Sūduva" team, temporarily moving up to the fifth position, this was their sixth match without a win, while the players of "Vėtra" in third place did not feel the joy of victory for three consecutive rounds.
After the match, "Vėtra" coach Edgaras Gessas, the expelled D. Vencevičius, and many players of the team could not hold back their emotions towards the referee, but they refrained from commenting on the referee's work.
"Vėtra" coach Edgaras Gessas stated that in the first half, with the city of Marijampolė celebrating the day and a crowd of spectators at the stadium, the fans saw beautiful football, but after the break, the celebration was ruined: "Perhaps we played the best half of this season. We slightly changed the tactical scheme and focused on the center of the field. This gave us results, as we created quite a few nice combinations in the center. But what happened in the second half... there are simply no words for comments."
Meanwhile, the head coach of "Sūduva," Algimantas Gabrys, told alyga.lt website after the match that the result was fair: "It can be said that the result reflects the events on the field. Until the break, the "Vėtra" players were more active and scored a goal. In the second half, we took the initiative, attacked more, and equalized the score. We had created more chances to score, but we didn't use them."
According to him, the attacks of the people of Marijampolė lacked sharpness: "There are injured players in the team, the physical form of many players is currently poor. Darius Maciulevičius is already playing, but he doesn't look good. All of this affects the results."
"Our attack is clearly stuck. We don't have players who can score. Andrius Urbšys is injured. Not a single one of our players has scored two goals, eight players have scored once. Last year, "Sūduva" conceded many goals, but also scored quite a few. This year it is very difficult for us to outsmart the opponents' goalkeepers. That's why the results are as they are," concluded the "Sūduva" strategist.
