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Two of the most dramatic matches of the "A League" season took place on Saturday evening - in the matches of the 24th round, victories were snatched in the last minutes by the home teams Vilnius "Žalgiris" and "Šiauliai", who defeated the resistance of Klaipėda "Atlantas" and "Šilutė" respectively.
In the capital, where "Žalgiris" and "Atlantas" met, the hosts finally debuted Bertrandas Ngapunu, a defender from Cameroon who joined the team, Marius Kazlauskas returned after an injury, and Raimondas Vilėniškis appeared in the starting lineup. The Žalgiris started the match, but they only managed to score in the 25th minute, when Eimantas Poderis defeated the goalkeeper of the Klaipėda team.
Soon after the missed goal, "Atlantas" faced another problem - Klaipėda club coach Rimantas Žvingilas got injured and was carried off the field on a stretcher. The score did not change until the break, and the teams went to rest with "Žalgiris" leading 1-0.
In the second half, "Atlantas" managed to equalize the score: after a mistake by the newcomer to the Vilnius club B.Ngapunu in defense, Donatas Navikas scored a goal. Veteran Igoris Morinas was very active in the Žalgiris team, but he lacked accuracy in finishing attacks.
Just when it seemed that the match would end peacefully, after a substitution on the field, midfielder Dmitrijus Šikurinas managed to score a goal with his head. Just a few moments later, Liudvikas Valius played a pass from a few meters away to I.Morinas, who secured Žalgiris' victory 3-1. After this win, Žalgiris approached the 4-5 places occupied by "Vėtra" and "Atlantas" who had played a couple more matches.
In Šiauliai, the home team hosted the absolute league underdog "Šilutė", but the guests were determined to end their losing streak and unexpectedly took the lead at the end of the first half - the goal was scored by Russian legionnaire Ilgiz Fattakhov. However, in the 55th minute of the second half, "Šilutė" lost Marius Kižys to a red card, and in the 78th minute Ilja Galiūza equalized the score with a penalty.
However, shortly after, the numerical advantage of "Šiauliai" ended, as Vadimas Tarasovas was sent off the field, but that did not stop the hosts, and a few minutes before the end of the match, defender Deividas Lunskis secured a victory, which allowed the people of Šiauliai to not fall far behind Žalgiris and increase their lead over Vilnius, who are in eighth place, by six points. Vilnius still has two matches in hand and will play their round match on Sunday in Panevėžys against "Ekranas".
Results of the 24th round matches on Saturday:
Vilnius "Žalgiris" stadium, 860 spectators
Referee - Vijūnas Vasiliauskas
3 - 1
25' [1 - 0] Eimantas Poderis
63' [1 - 1] Donatas Navikas
90' [2 - 1] Dmitriy Šikurin
90' [3 - 1] Igoris Morinas
"Žalgiris": Šetkus; Kazlauskas, Ngapunu, I.Steško, Krukovski; Ostap, Poderis (87' Šikurin), Vilėniškis (57' Lemežis), Bursuc; Morinas, Labukas
"Atlantas": Valius; D.Žutautas, E.Žukauskas, Lukoševičius, Begič; Gedgaudas, Morozov, Mockus (56' Žernys), Navikas; Žvingilas (26' Danilyuk), Karalius
Šiauliai city stadium, 1100 spectators
Referee - Viktoras Chileckis
2 - 1
45' [0 - 1] Ilgiz Fattakhov
78' [1 - 1] Ilja Galyuza (pen.)
88' [2 - 1] Deivydas Lunskis
55' Marius Kižys ("Šilutė"), 79' Vadim Tarasov ("Šiauliai") sent off the field
"Šiauliai": Lukovičs; Oriol (76' Tarasov), Lunskis, S.Galyuza (34' Afanasenko), Atigbiolaye; A.Šidlauskas, I.Galyuza, Juodeikis, Milevski; Ščekotilin (46' Viktoravičius), Butavičius
"Šilutė": L.Vertelis; Užkuraitis, Deveika, Gražys, Žigutis; Fattakhov (71' Andriekus), Z.Butkus, Kižys, Berdnik (49' Nesterenko); Šulkevičius, Podelis (55' Pancerovas)
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Standings table
