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Four matches of the 26th round were played on Sunday in the "A League" championship. The surprise was delivered by one of the championship outsiders, "Nevėžis", who did not concede to the league leader "Kaunas", while in other matches convincing victories were achieved by the clubs considered favorites - "Ekranas", "Vėtra", and "Atlantas". Recently, several key players of the Kaunas team who had lost their leaders due to disqualification could not represent the team - Nukri Manchkava and Arkadiuszas Klimekas. After a long break recovering from an injury, Givi Kvaratskhelia wore the team's jersey. He appeared on the field in the 76th minute. At the end of the match, the Moldavian Petru Stinga made his debut in the Kaunas team. The hosts at Kaunas S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium were trailing already in the 22nd minute, as the Kaunas goalkeeper Mindaugas Malinauskas brought down the opponent in the penalty area, and the referee Audrius Žuta awarded a penalty, which was converted by Marius Činikas. However, after nine minutes, the Kaunas defender Dainius Kunevičius equalized with a precise shot, but despite further pressure Kaunas could not break the opponents and had to settle for a draw after R. Beniušis hit the post in the 73rd minute. "The game was one-way, "Kaunas" could have scored several goals, but failed to capitalize on good opportunities. The Kaunas attack lacked variety. We had one chance and we took advantage of it. It can be said that luck was on our side and we won. This point is very important for "Nevėžis", aiming to take the ninth place," - said Vitalijus Stankevičius, the head coach of "Nevėžis" to alyga.lt, as his team managed to take points from all the championship leaders under his guidance. It did not take long for the holders of the title, Panevėžio "Ekranas", who had theoretical chances to catch up with "Kaunas", to capitalize on it. They defeated Marijampolės "Sūduva" away. The guests took the lead in the 39th minute through Vitalijus Kavaliauskas, and although Aleksandr Abramenko managed to equalize just before the break, after the break, two goals from Mantas Savėnas and Povilas Lukšys in the second half helped "Ekranas" to secure the victory. "Vilniaus Vėtra" somewhat unexpectedly celebrated an easy victory in Šiauliai, although due to received yellow cards in the match, Dejan Milošeskis and the two other injured defenders - Bobis Božinovskis and Donatas Vencevičius could not help the capital's team. "Vėtra" started the match very actively and already in the 2nd minute sent the ball into the opponent's goal, but the goal was disallowed by the referee because of the handball by the "Vėtra" players. The first goal into "Šiauliai" goal came already in the 5th minute - after a side pass, Sergejus Kuznecovas headed the ball past the opponent's goalkeeper and Vilnius took the lead 1-0. The visitors continued their attacks and soon they could have further increased the score, but in the 9th minute, Šiauliai saved themselves from S. Kuznecovas's header from the goalkeeper and defenders, who cleared the ball behind the goal line. After a corner - danger arose again near the hosts' goal, Juliaus Raliukonis blocked the shot, the ball bounced to Robertas Vėževičius, but the guest's goalkeeper missed the goal from close range. Nevertheless, before the break, "Vėtra" doubled their lead when after Aidas Preikšaitis's accurate pass, S. Kuznecovas jumped to face the goalie alone and with a precise shot put the ball into the bottom corner of the goal. In the 24th minute, "Vėtra" was already in front 2-0. This was the thirteenth goal by S. Kuznecovas in the "A League" and he is now just one goal behind the top scorer Andrius Velička, who has now left Kaunas. After scoring two goals before the break, S. Kuznecovas was substituted at the beginning of the second half, as he had not fully recovered from a leg injury. However, even without their attacking leader, there was plenty of firepower in the guest team. In the 56th minute, the guest's advantage became overwhelming when Nerijus Sasnauskas, after dribbling the ball halfway through the field, burst into the penalty area, made an accurate pass to Maksut Azizi, and the Slovenian legionnaire headed the third goal into Šiauliai's goal and his first in the Vilnius team. In the 62nd minute, there was another goal into the hosts' goal, a comical one - Šiauliai defender Andrejus Oriolas while trying to clear the ball, hit Egidijus Juška and the ball from the "Vėtra" defender found its way into the goal. "Vėtra" was already leading 4-0 and could have further increased the result, as in the 85th minute, after receiving a great pass, Šarūnas Litvinas found himself alone in front of the goal, but his shot was too weak and the defender cleared the rolling ball into the goal. At the very end of the match, "Šiauliai" had a chance to soften the result when a penalty kick was awarded to "Vėtra", but the excellent goalkeeper Vaidas Žutautas parried Ilja Galiūzas's shot and saved his goal. "Vėtra" thrashed "Šiauliai" with a score of 4-0 and secured their fourth consecutive victory. After the match, "Vėtra" coach Aleksandras Tarchanovas was pleased that the team's game is becoming more stable and reliable: "We could have won by a larger margin because we created numerous opportunities. Scoring more was hindered by the quality of the pitch. I really liked the start of the match, during which we scored two goals and just overwhelmed the opponents with such aggressive play. Later, after gaining a significant advantage, the concentration slightly decreased. The goalkeeper saved us after the goal by parrying the penalty kick from eleven meters. It is pleasing to see confidence in our abilities both in defense and ball control emerging in the team. "Today the team won, I would not like to single out individual players, except for both central defenders, who played very reliably. Aidas Preikšaitis and Darvydas Šernas, who have represented the Lithuanian national teams, played well, although Aidas played two very difficult matches in a few days," - said the coach of "Vėtra". Sunday 26th round match statistics Kauno S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium, 500 spectators Referee - Audrius Žuta 1 - 1 22' [0 - 1] Marius Činikas (11m) 31' [1 - 1] Dainius Kunevičius "Kaunas": Malinauskas; Kunevičius, Kančelskis, Bagužis, Radžius; Barevičius, Bartkus, Juška (46' Kšanavičius), Pilibaitis (75' Kvaratskhelia); Pehlič, Beniušis (86' Beniušis) "Nevėžis": Jazokas (46' Strukas); Dobilas, Rimavičius, Valančius, Juknevičius (65' Mykolaitis); Činikas, Kestenis, Bezykornovas, Venckus (65' Adomaitis); Daunoravičius, V.Stankevičius Marijampolės "Sūduvos" stadium, 600 spectators Referee - Gediminas Mažeika 1 - 3 39' [0 - 1] Vitalijus Kavaliauskas 45' [1 - 1] Aleksandr Abramenko 69' [1 - 2] Mantas Savėnas 77' [1 - 3] Povilas Lukšys "Sūduva": Padimanskas; Mikuckis, Grigas, Gvildys, D.Čigladze; Jasaitis, Cordeiro (29' Maciulevičius), Uselis, Mačiulis; Abramenko, Braga (52' Urbšys) "Ekranas": Skrupskis; Klimavičius, Paulauskas, Banevičius; Gardzijauskas, Savėnas, Kučys, Tomkevičius (90' Tomkevičius), Michalčuks (60' Varnas), Kavaliauskas (82' Pogreban), Lukšys Šiauliai city stadium, 550 spectators 0 - 4 5' [0 - 1] Sergiy Kuznecov 24' [0 - 2] Sergiy Kuznecov 55' [0 - 3] Maksut Azizi 65' [0 - 4] Egidijus Juška "Šiauliai": Lukovičs; Oriol, Lunskis, Atigbiolaye, Milevski; Afanasenka, Juodeikis, I.Galyuza, Šidlauskas, Ščekotilin (46` Monakov), Viktoravičius (75' Strockis) "Vėtra": V.Žutautas; Sasnauskas, Raliukonis, Žudys, A.Jankauskas; Šernas (78' Blažys), Juška, Preikšaitis, Vėževičius, Lovčev (61' Litvinas), Kuznecov (52' Azizi) Klaipėda "Žalgiris" stadium, 300 spectators Referee - Antanas Rubys 4 - 1 26' [1 - 0] Andrius Gedgaudas 33' [2 - 0] Martynas Karalius 44' [2 - 1] Marius Kižys 52' [3 - 1] Ivo Begič 66' [4 - 1] Martynas Karalius "Atlantas": Valius; Žutautas, Žukauskas, Begič (70' Šoblinskas), Lukoševičius; Navikas, Žvingilas, Morozov (80' Žernys), Gedgaudas; Kocherga (46' Mirauskas), Karalius; "Šilutė": Vertelis; Grigas (67' Juozaitis), Nesterenko, Deveika, Z.Butkus (68' Andriekus); Papečkys, Kižys, Vičius, Vyšniauskas, Zubavičius (75' Berdnik); Šulkevičius Top scorers: 1. Andrius Velička ("Kaunas") - 14 goals 2. Sergiy Kuznecov ("Vėtra") - 13 3. Povilas Lukšys ("Ekranas") - 12 4-6. Ilja Galyuza ("Šiauliai"), Mantas Savėnas ("Ekranas"), Edin Pehlic ("Kaunas") - 10 each 7. Maksim Morozov ("Atlantas") - 9 8-10. Tadas Labukas ("Žalgiris"), Ričardas Beniušis ("Kaunas"), Eimantas Poderis ("Žalgiris") - 8 each League table
