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One match of the "A Lyga" took place on Saturday in Vilnius, where the local "Žalgiris" team, trying to climb up from the bottom of the league table, met the "Šiauliai" club, which had been impressive this season but had not been very successful in recent months. The convincing victory, which was only the second home win this season, was achieved by the capital city team players.
Vilnius "Žalgiris" stadium, 680 spectators Referee - Gediminas Mažeika 2 - 1 23' [1 - 0] Iulian Bursuc 35' [2 - 0] Mirijan Choruži (penalty) 90' [2 - 1] Marijuš Krukovski (own goal)
"Žalgiris": Šetkus; Choruži, I.Steško, Miliškevičius, Krukovski; Lemežis (81' Vilėniškis), Poderis, Ostap, Bursuc; Morinas, Mižigurskis (65' Puotkalis)
"Šiauliai": Lukovičs; Oriol, Lunskis, Milevsky, Atigbiolaye; Afanasenko (86' Viktoravičius), Galyuza, Juodeikis, A.Šidlauskas; Ščekotilin (67' Monakov), Butavičius
In this match, the Šiauliai team saw the debut of Belarusian national team defender Andrej Milevskiy, who took the place of Ukrainian Sergej Galiūzas in the starting lineup, while Valerij Mižigurskis replaced the injured forward Tadas Labukas for "Žalgiris". The coach of the Vilnius team, Igor Pankratjevas, had defender Raimondas Vilėniškis back in the squad after a long injury break, although he started the match on the bench.
The Žalgiris team managed to start the game more actively and in the 22nd minute broke through - after a penalty shot, the ball ended up at Moldovan Julijan Bursuc, who hit a powerful shot from about 25 meters that left no chance for Šiauliai goalkeeper Inga Luković. After playing half an hour, the same J.Bursuc intercepted the ball and started a Žalgiris counterattack, but the Šiauliai defenders managed to resist the hosts' attempts, and as the attack continued, J.Bursuc shot wide from afar.
The visitors continued to struggle against the Žalgiris Moldovan player, and in the 33rd minute, after a accurate pass that pierced the entire Šiauliai defense, J.Bursuc found himself free on the edge of the penalty area and was brought down by Andrej Oriol. Since Eimantas Poderis missed a penalty kick in the previous match, this time Mirijanas Choruži took responsibility and his shot from the spot flew into the net.
With a two-goal advantage, the hosts handed over the initiative to the visitors and tried to counterattack themselves, but Šiauliai threatened the Žalgiris goal only once after a penalty shot, and the most dangerous Vilnius attack ended with an inaccurate shot by E.Poderis from 20 meters. At the end of the first half, Žalgiris dominated with a 2-0 lead.
Four minutes into the second half, Virmantas Lemežis shot wide from distance after another home team counterattack, while Šiauliai began to visit the Žalgiris goal more frequently. In the 54th minute, they had perhaps the best opportunity to score, when after a stumble by Igor Steško in the penalty area, Gediminas Butavičius entered from the center of the penalty area, but his shot went wide. A minute later, the home goalkeeper Ernestas Šetkus saved his goal from a dangerous shot by the visitors.
Shortly afterwards, the Žalgiris attack was repelled by the Šiauliai team with selfless defense, and halfway through the second half, E.Poderis tested Šiauliai goalkeeper I.Lukovičius twice - first with a shot from the right side and then from Igor Morino's pass that resulted in a headshot by the Vilnius defender.
In the 67th minute, Šiauliai almost scored directly from a corner kick, but E.Šetkus managed to punch the ball away. Three minutes later, the Vilnius goalkeeper fended off Vasilij Monakov's attempt to score after turning in the penalty area. Andrius Puotkalis' penalty kick didn't cause much trouble for the Šiauliai keeper, while E.Poderis missed another opportunity from 13 meters.
In the remaining part of the match, Šiauliai unsuccessfully tried to break through the Žalgiris defense, while the home team threatened with counterattacks. In the final minute, curiously, the capital city team's players scored an own goal - as E.Šetkus failed to run out of the goal, the ball rolled towards the net, and in an attempt to clear the danger, Marijušas Krukovskis sent it into the goal. However, this did not have a bigger impact on the outcome of the game, and "Žalgiris" celebrated the victory.
