© EuroFootball.com
During the matches of the 19th round of the "A League" played on Friday, there was a lot of everything - there was no shortage of goals, surprises, intense, dramatic, and nerve-wracking events. The sensation in Panevėžys almost upset the league's underdog "Nevėžis", who almost snatched victory from the hands of the champion "Ekranas" in the last minutes. Breaking a series of failures in a nerve-wracking match, "Atlantas" stopped "Vėtra", "Žalgiris" won in a intense battle against "Sūduva", and "Kaunas" defeated "Šiauliai" and solidified their lead at the top of the tournament table.
The "Ekranas", preparing for the Champions League qualification matches, expected an easy match at home against Kėdainiai's "Nevėžis", but after a victory against "Šilutė", Vitalijus Stankevičius' team gained confidence in their abilities and shocked the audience at the "Aukštaitija" stadium in the 70th minute when the leader of Kėdainiai's attacks, Vitalis Stankevičius, scored a goal.
In the 83rd minute, "Ekranas" managed to earn a penalty, but the captain of the Panevėžys club, Mantas Savėnas, failed to convert it. Nevertheless, in the final minutes of the match, the hosts launched an assault on the opponents' goal and in the second minute of added time, one of the 28 shots by "Ekranas" found the goal - Mindaugas Gardzijauskas managed to equalize the score against the country's champions.
The leader "Kaunas" quickly capitalized on the opportunity and increased their lead again, scoring two goals as usual this season and winning convincingly against "Šiauliai". Andrius Velička scored his 11th goal from the penalty spot at the start of the match, and a less frequent scorer, Marius Žaliūkas, added the second goal. This was the 18th victory of the season for "Kaunas", widening the gap to the second-placed "Ekranas" to 19 points.
"Atlantas" did not take advantage of "Ekranas"'s misstep, as they were forced to [link="http://www.eurofootball.com/index.php?page=news&id=6459"]surrender in Vilnius[/link] to a rejuvenated "Vėtra" after breaking their streak of failures. When the goalkeeper of the coastal team, Liudvikas Valys, committed a foul in the penalty area and received a red card, Vilnius took the lead with a penalty kick from Aidas Preikšaitis, and although Aivaras Laurišas managed to level the score, the same A. Preikšaitis decided the game with a precise strike for the "Vėtra" team, who also finished with ten men after Roberto Vėževičius' dismissal from the field.
The matches in Marijampolė were just as intense, where the local team "Sūduva" fell behind against "Žalgiris" in the fourth minute after the visitors' forward Igoris Morinas scored, but Andrius Urbšys and Darius Maciulevičius' goals in the first half put the home team ahead. However, Žalgiris did not give up and equalized the score in the middle of the second half through former "Sūduva" player Gerdas Aleksa, and Andrius Puotkalis sealed the victory for the resurging "Žalgiris" with a penalty kick.
Friday's match statistics:
Marijampolė City Stadium, 500 spectators Referee - Edmundas Gaigalas Score: 2-3 4' [0-1] Igoris Morinas 22' [1-1] Andrius Urbšys 38' [2-1] Darius Maciulevičius 65' [2-2] Gerdas Aleksa 73' [2-3] Andrius Puotkalis (pen.)
"Sūduva": Klevinskas; D.Čigladze, Mikuckis, Gvildys, Samusiovas; Klevinskas, Uselis (46` Mačiulis), Maciulevičius (77` Adomaitis), Miklinevičius, Urbšys; Braga (58` Abramenko);
"Žalgiris": Šetkus; Aleksa, I.Steško, Miliškevičius, Krukovski; Lemežis, Poderis (64` Šikurin), Falčik (92` Kaušpadas), Choruži; Morinas, Labukas (46` Puotkalis);
Panevėžys "Aukštaitija" Stadium, 455 spectators Referee - Paulius Malžinskas Score: 1-1 70' [0-1] Vitalis Stankevičius 90+2' [1-1] Mindaugas Gardzijauskas 83' Mantas Savėnas ("Ekranas") missed a penalty kick
"Ekranas": Skrupskis; Paulauskas, Klimavičius, Banevičius, Skroblas (46` Gardzijauskas); Petrauskas (46` Michalčuks), Savėnas, Kučys (80` Galkevičius), Tomkevičius; Lukšys, Kavaliauskas;
"Nevėžis": Jazokas; Dobilas, Rimavičius, D.Adomaitis, Juknevičius; Slepakovas (55` Valančius), Kestenis, Smilginas (60` Daunoravičius), Bezykornovas, Činikas; Stankevičius (87` Venckus);
Score: 2-1
Kaunas S.Dariaus and S.Girėno Stadium, 430 spectators Referee - Vijūnas Vasiliauskas Score: 2-0 12' [1-0] Andrius Velička (pen.) 40' [2-0] Marius Žaliūkas
"Kaunas": Kurskis; Kančelskis, Kunevičius, Žaliūkas, Radžius; Manchkava, Ivaškevičius, Pehlic (70` Beniušis), Pilibaitis (78` Pacevičius); Juška (58`Barevičius), Velička;
"Šiauliai": Lukovičs; Atigbiolaye, Lunskis, Zemskov, S.Galyuza (46` Lapeikis); Afanasenka, A.Šidlauskas, Butkus (68` Kuklys), Viktoravičius, Oriol; Butavičius (68` Šilėnas);
Tournament standings
