© EuroFootball.com
On Tuesday, the 17th round matches of the Lithuanian "A League" were postponed due to Intertoto Cup competitions, where the unexpected defeat of "Nevėžis" was suffered by "Vėtra" and the absolute outsider of the championship "Šilutė". A convincing victory with a four-goal margin was achieved by "Atlantas", who also moved up to the fourth place on points.
Šilutė city stadium
Referee - Edmundas Gaigalas
0 - 4
4' [0 - 1] Robertas Vėževičius
34' [0 - 2] Aidas Preikšaitis
44' [0 - 3] Darvydas Šernas
80' [0 - 4] Sergiy Kuznecov
"Šilutė": L.Vertelis; Nesterenko, Pancerovas, H.Grigas (62' Vyšniauskas), Žigutis; Gražys, Berdnik, Butkus, Fattakhov; Podelis (74' Jemeljanovas), Grigalevičius (59' Andriekus)
"Vėtra": V.Žutautas; Sasnauskas, Raliukonis, Žudys, Jankauskas; Šernas (72' Litvinas), Miloševski (77' Azizi), Preikšaitis, Vėževičius (83' Juška); Lovčev, Kuznecov
Playing as guests, "Vėtra" took the lead after only 5 minutes, when Robertas Vėževičius struck precisely from the penalty area, scoring a goal for the second consecutive match. Aidas Preikšaitis doubled the margin with a long-range shot in the 34th minute, and just before the end of the first half, the difference became overwhelming - Darvydas Šernas struck from 22 meters towards the center of the field, defeating the "Šilutė" goalkeeper.
In the second half, in the middle of which Germanas Lovčeva was sent off for a second yellow card, the "Vėtra" attacks leader Sergey Kuznecov finished off the hosts' rout by heading the ball into the opponent's goal in the 80th minute after a precise pass from Nerijus Sasnauskas.
"Vėtra" won by a score of 4-0, marking the biggest victory for the Vilnius team this season. With 31 points after 21 rounds, "Vėtra" now shares the 4-5 places in the "A League" with Klaipėda's "Atlantas", who have played two games less.
"Vėtra" coach Aleksandras Tarchanovas was pleased not only with the result, but also with the team's performance: "In the first half, we played 'to one goal'. We constantly pressed the opponents and didn't allow them to even cross the center. Until half-time, we scored three goals and could have scored just as many. Having a huge advantage in the second half, we started rushing to score more and the game became a bit messy. However, I am satisfied with the game because the players are not playing 'headless', they are controlling the ball longer and starting to play the kind of football I want to see."
