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On Wednesday at the Kaunas S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium, the Lithuanian national team and Scotland played the second round of qualifying matches for the 2008 European Championship and suffered their first setback - in a closely contested match, the visiting Scots secured a 2-1 victory.
Kaunas S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium, 7000 spectators
Referee - Vladimir Hrinak (Slovakia)
Lithuania 1 - 2 Scotland
46` [0 - 1] Christian Dailly
65` [0 - 2] Kenny Miller
86` [1 - 2] Darius Miceika
Lithuania: Karčemarskas; Džiaukštas, Skerla, Žvirgždauskas, Stankevičius; Kalonas, Preikšaitis (83` Miceika), Savėnas (52` Tamošauskas), Mikoliūnas (67` Labukas); Danilevičius; Poškus
Scotland: Gordon; Dailly, Weir, Pressley, Caldwell; Fletcher, Hartley (89` Severin), Quashie (43` Boyd), Naysmith; McFadden (23` G.Alexander); Miller
Before the match, it became clear that Deividas Česnauskis, who had not fully recovered from illness, would be unable to play, so his place in the safety line was taken by Mindaugas Kalonas. Meanwhile, two-goal scorer against the Faroe Islands, Kris Boyd, was not in the Scottish ranks from the start - coach Walter Smith decided to strengthen the defense by sending out defender Gary Caldwell.
Both teams started the match very actively, and the Lithuanians, in one of their first attacks, could have taken the lead, but after Mantas Savėnas' lifted corner, Tomo Žvirgždauskas' header from Craig Gordon's goal line was pushed out by Gary Naysmith, and the subsequent M. Kalonas shot was inaccurate.
Following these episodes, an open game continued on the field: the Lithuanians often tried to play positional football, keeping the ball longer, while the Scots, once they received the ball, sent it as far forward as possible, where, through the home defense barriers, Kenny Miller tried to penetrate.
In the first half, the Lithuanians struggled to get closer to their opponents' goal, and they tried their luck with shots from a distance - M. Kalonas, who hit close to the crossbar from a long distance, and Mantas Savėnas' attempts did not cause larger problems for C. Gordon.
It is worth mentioning that Scotland's national team coach Walter Smith made two substitutions in the first half, when he was forced to replace the injured N. Quashie and J. McFadden. They were replaced by G. Alexander and one of the most prolific players in the Scottish Premier League, Kris Boyd.
Just before the break, Christian Dailly illegally stopped S. Mikoliūnas right by the penalty area, and when M. Savėnas stepped up to take the penalty, he shot towards the goal, but Scottish defender David Weir managed to head the ball away. So the first half, like over three years ago, ended goalless.
However, the second half started tragically for Lithuania - at the start of their first attack, the Scots quickly moved into the Lithuanian half, and with a sharp penetration into the penalty area, they demonstrated all their opportunities, which was fully exploited by Žydrūnas Karčemarskas, who pushed Kenny Miller's shot into a corner kick. With Naysmith taking the corner kick, Ž. Karčemarskas hesitated a bit and above all the defenders in the middle of the penalty area, defender C. Dailly headed the ball into the goal.
Soon after a commotion in the visitors' penalty area, R. Poškus had a great chance to equalize, but the Lithuanian forward missed from close range. In the other half of the field, Steven Pressley almost scored after a corner kick, and after R. Poškus received a yellow card, they launched a quick attack and two Lithuanian defenders failed to deal with the active Kenny Miller, who managed to dribble past M. Stankevičius and with a strong shot from close range, "fired" past Ž. Karčemarskas.
Continuing to confuse the defender, G. Alexander dangerously shot into the near corner of the goal, which was caught by the goalkeeper. The Lithuanians quickly organized a dangerous response when the young Tadas Labukas strongly and dangerously shot in the penalty area, but with the defenders blocking the attempt, R. Poškus turned and shot precisely.
As the match neared its end, C. Gordon had to fend off a long shot ricocheted from M. Stankevičius, and just when it seemed that the hosts' attacking efforts would be in vain, with a corner kick, M. Kalonas, with a fantastic shot from about 6 meters, softened a recently introduced Darius Miceika.
This revived the hopes of the Lithuanian national team, but at the end of the match, the last attempt from T. Danilevičius from a distance and withstanding the assault on their goal, the visitors could have increased their lead, but with K. Boyd escaping from the side, Ž. Karčemarskas defended.
Scotland won and secured their second victory to become the group leader.
Match statistics
Lithuania - Scotland
6 Shots on goal 8
14 Shots off target 3
2 Blocked shots 1
9 Corner kicks 5
15 Fouls 20
0 Offsides 3
4 Yellow cards 3
81.2% Passing accuracy 68.5%
21 Tackles attempted 22
81% Tackles won 86.4%
63.5% Possession 36.5%
52.8% Territorial advantage 47.2%
