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In two matches on Friday, the 23rd round of the Lithuanian "A League" championship began. Both wins against the tournament's outsiders were achieved by the visiting teams - "Žalgiris" defeated "Šilutė" at the end of the match away, while "Atlantas" forced the "Nevėžis" team to surrender.
In the previous round, Žalgiris, who had won their first home victory of the season, met with the absolute league outsider, Šilutė, who had suffered nine consecutive defeats so far, including 4-0 losses in their last few matches, making 5 changes in their starting lineup. Meanwhile, Žalgiris coach I. Pankratjevas made only one change, bringing back Tadas Labukas to the starting lineup.
Although no goals were scored in the first half, in the 53rd minute Mirijanas Choruži failed to score from the penalty spot, Žalgiris still managed to defeat Šilutė - with six minutes remaining, Valerijus Mižigurskis scored after coming on as a substitute, marking his first goal in the "A League" this season, and T. Labukas secured the victory for the Vilnius team in the final minute. This was the tenth defeat for Šilutė in their last few matches, while the second consecutive victory for Žalgiris allowed the club to climb to sixth place in the league standings.
A quite different match took place in Kaunas, where under the leadership of Vitalijus Stankevičius, the rejuvenated Nevėžis welcomed Klaipėda's Atlantas, which had lost several players and coach Sergejus Savčenkovas had fallen into a "pit". Two newcomers debuted in the team from the port city - Croatian Ivo Begičius and Jaunius Mockus, who had transferred from Šilutė, and about one and a half months after a break, defender Darius Žutautas, who had not established himself at Simferopol's Tavria, returned to the team.
However, after a goalless first half, Atlantas managed to prove their superiority - in the 51st minute, the only and winning goal was scored by Donatas Navikas for the Klaipėda team. The match, marked by referee Viktoras Chileckis showing eight yellow cards, ended in Atlantas' victory, ending a three-match losing streak and allowing them to overtake Marijampolė's Sūduva to return to third place. Meanwhile, Nevėžis suffered their first defeat since the end of June, when V. Stankevičius took over as the team's manager.
