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On Saturday, three matches of the 30th round of the "A League" had already been played, in which "Kaunas" let victory slip from their hands in the last minute in a duel with "Žalgiris," allowing defending champions "Ekranas" to come closer to the title. In a crucial victory in the fight for medals, "Sūduva" defeated "Atlantas," while "Vėtra" crushed the championship's underdog "Šilutė." In a match in Klaipėda, "Atlantas" welcomed Marijampolė's "Sūduva," who had already defeated them in the LFF Cup in the middle of the week. This time, luck was on the side of the visitors, who secured the lead with a goal in the 17th minute scored by Darius Maciulevičius, marking his 100th goal in Lithuanian championships and allowing "Sūduva" to secure the fourth place. "Winning two matches in a row against the same team is difficult. However, the men were determined to fight. Our situation does not allow us to relax. "Atlantas" put in all efforts, especially in the first half, we tried to counterattack, and one of those counterattacks was successful. This slowed down the pace of the opponents. The match showed that the team can play, can fight. The lack of offense, players do not demonstrate good gameplay in the offensive line," said "Sūduva" coach Algimantas Gabrys after the match. After a painful loss in the previous round, "Žalgiris" managed to travel to Kaunas and meet the local team that was leading the championship. However, the Kaunas team, who had been struggling significantly in recent times, played with an unusual lineup, and taking advantage of this, "Žalgiris" moved forward in the 53rd minute after Raimondas Vilėniškis' goal. The missed goal woke up the "Kaunas" team, and after playing for a little over an hour, Ričardas Beniušis equalized the result, and in the 76th minute, the hosts took the lead with a goal from Arkadiusz Klimek. However, luck smiled upon the Vilnius team this week, and in the last minute of the match, Valerijus Mižigurskis secured an equalizer for the Vilnius club. Equally with "Žalgiris" and "Atlantas," "Šiauliai" still have points, losing to Panevėžys "Ekranas" in front of one and a half thousand spectators in their own stadium. The hosts took the lead in the 37th minute through Vitalijus Kavaliauskas, who had been playing productively for the past few months, and although the leader of the Šiauliai attacks, Ilja Galiūza, soon equalized, after the break, the same V. Kavaliauskas punished the opponents again, and at the end of the match, "Ekranas" secured the victory with a penalty converted by Mantas Savėnas. "Siauliai" coach Saulius Vertelis said that the defeat was due to mistakes in defense: "It turned slightly and luck was on their side. The first half may not have been so bad. We played 1-1, which is a positive result. In the second half, the second goal threw us off balance, we missed a goal that we should not have missed - an experienced player missed the ball. After that, it was already difficult, we reorganized the game, tried to level the score, and as a result, we conceded again - a young player made a mistake in the midfield and the experienced team punished us. It's difficult to expect a positive result when mistakes are made." Meanwhile, "Ekranas" coach Virginijus Liubšys admitted that the match was difficult and praised the opponents while being pleased with his team's performance: "We knew it wouldn't be easy - we lost the first half to "Siauliai" playing well. Their team has really active and great players like A.Šidlauskas or I.Galiūza, as well as a few Russians playing, they counterattack excellently, giving up initiative. But today we played well and won deservedly, I am satisfied with the men's performance, especially in the second half." The last match of the round saw Vilnius "Vėtra" and the league's underdog "Šilutė" take to the field, providing the opportunity to further distance themselves from the three losing opponents. The hosts at the "Vėtra" stadium immediately attacked the opponents' goal from the start of the match and built up a significant advantage in the first half. The first goal into "Šilutė's" goal came in the 9th minute when after a lifted penalty shot, Nerijus Sasnauskas headed the ball into the net, and in the 21st minute, "Vėtra" executed a great combination, after which Dejan Miloševskis, who jumped in front of the goalkeeper, doubled the lead. "Vėtra's" attacks continued, and after half an hour, from a corner kick, Julius Raliukonis headed the third goal from half a meter away, but after Vilnius players relaxed, "Šilutė's" forward Mindaugas Grigalevičius managed to narrow the gap to 1-3 in the 38th minute. After the break, "Vėtra" struggled to score for a long time, but with six minutes remaining, "Šilutė" player Tomas Vyšniauskas received a second yellow card and was removed from the field, and at the very end of the match, substitutes Maksut Azizi and Rolandas Karčemarskas scored two more goals. After the overwhelming victory, "Vėtra" players said it was good preparation for the upcoming match against Klaipėda's "Atlantas." "We controlled the game, demonstrated combination football, and achieved a deserved victory with a large margin, which could have been even greater if we had utilized more opportunities. It was a good rehearsal before the match against "Atlantas" on Tuesday," said "Vėtra" captain Julius Raliukonis. "We were seriously prepared for the fight from the first minutes. We completed our task - scored a quick goal and confidently won. Of course, having acquired a three-goal lead, we relaxed. Because of that, we played poorly in the second half. With such a clear advantage, it's difficult to stay focused," said Nerijus Sasnauskas, who scored the first goal against "Šilutė." The only remaining match of the round between "Vilnius" and Kėdainiai's "Nevėžis" will be played on Sunday in the capital city. Statistics of Saturday's matches Klaipėda "Žalgiris" stadium, 200 spectators Referee - Viktoras Chileckis 0 - 1 17` [0 - 1] Darius Maciulevičius "Atlantas": Valius; D.Žutautas, E.Žukauskas, Begič, Lukoševičius; Gedgaudas (76' Petreikis), Žvingilas, Mockus, Navikas (59' Danilyuk); Vraneševič (63' Kocherga), Karalius "Sūduva": S.Klevinskas; Mikuckis, G.Grigas, Gvildys, D.Čigladze; Miklinevičius, Jasaitis, Mačiulis, B.Čigladze (58' G.Klevinskas); Maciulevičius (70' G.Slavickas), Abramenko (64' Urbšys) Kaunas S.Darius and S.Girėnas stadium Referee - Audrius Žuta 2 - 2 53` [0 - 1] Raimondas Vilėniškis 61` [1 - 1] Ričardas Beniušis 76` [2 - 1] Arkadiusz Klimek 90` [2 - 2] Valerijus Mižigurskis "Kaunas": Hertelendi; Kančelskis, Kunevičius (39' Gnedojus), Kijanskas, Radžius; Barevičius (55' Rafael), Kvaratskhelia, Bartkus, Kšanavičius (78' Bajrami); Beniušis, Klimek "Žalgiris": Šetkus; Choruži, Ngapunu, I.Steško, Krukovski; Morinas, Vilėniškis, Ostap, Bursuc (46' Lemežis); Poderis, Labukas (Mižigurskis) Šiauliai city stadium, 1525 spectators Referee: Paulius Malžinskas 1 - 3 Panevėžio 37` [0 - 1] Vitalijus Kavaliauskas 40` [1 - 1] Ilja Galyuza 56` [1 - 2] Vitalijus Kavaliauskas 85` [1 - 3] Mantas Savėnas (11m.) "Šiauliai": G.Arlauskis; Oriol, Lunskis, Milevski, Strockis; Afanasenka, I.Galyuza, Juodeikis, Šidlauskas; Ščekotilin (82' Monakov), Butavičius (78' Viktoravičius) "Ekranas": Grybauskas; Klimavičius, Banevičius, Skroblas; Petrauskas, Savėnas (90' Šlekys), Kučys (76' Varnas), Tomkevičius, Mihalčuks; Kavaliauskas, Pogreban Vilnius "Vėtra" stadium, 500 spectators Referee - Audrius Kancleris Vilnius 5 - 1 9` [1 - 0] Nerijus Sasnauskas 21` [2 - 0] Dejanas Milošeskis 30` [3 - 0] Julius Raliukonis 38` [3 - 1] Mindaugas Grigalevičius 90` [4 - 1] Maksut Azizi 90` [5 - 1] Rolandas Karčemarskas 84' Tomas Vyšniauskas ("Šilutė") pašalintas iš aikštės "Vėtra": Kacinkevičius; Sasnauskas, Raliukonis, Žudys, Barmoš; Talancev (64' Šernas), Preikšaitis, Miloševski (84' R.Karčemarskas), Vėževičius; Juška (75' Azizi), Kuznecov "Šilutė": Kilijonas; Deveika, Nesterenko, Užkuraitis (56' H.Grigas), Žigutis; Vyšniauskas, Z.Butkus (46' Šulkevičius), Gražys, Papečkys; Podelis (77' Zubavičius), Grigalevičius League table
