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After the international competition week, the final stage of the Lithuanian championship began on Sunday. In the third position of the "A Lyga" standings, "Vėtra" secured a victory over guests "Sūduva" in a crucial duel, moving to fifth place by taking advantage of a draw between "Šiauliai" and "Atlantas", while "Nevėžis" returned home with a not so easy victory over "Žalgiris". Meanwhile, the leaders "Ekranas" and "Kaunas" recorded another win at home.
The most intriguing match of the round took place in Marijampolė, where "Sūduva" in fourth place welcomed Vilnius "Vėtra" in third place. The hosts started the important match successfully and were led by Karolis Jasaitis in the 21st minute, but the guests, Slovenian legionnaire Maksutas Azizi, equalized in the 28th minute.
It seemed that the fierce battle ended in a draw, but that was not the case. In the 75th minute, experienced defender Donatas Vencevičius appeared for "Vėtra" after a long break, and his return inspired his team to victory - with nine minutes left until the end of the match, Egidijus Juška secured the victory for the capital team. This win allowed "Vėtra" to increase their lead over "Sūduva", who played more matches, to eight points.
Meanwhile, the battle for the fourth position intensified even more - in the match held in Šiauliai, the home team failed to defeat Klaipėda's "Atlantas", and both teams had to settle for a goalless draw. This allowed Kėdainiai's "Nevėžis", who beat A. Narbekov's "Žalgiris" 3-2, to rise to fifth place.
For the Žalgiris team, who scored three goals through Valerijus Mižigurskis, Igoris Morinas, and Eimantas Poderis in the first 11 minutes of the first half to lead 3-0, towards the end of the match they had to be a little nervous, as Marius Činikas reduced the deficit for "Nevėžis" in the middle of the second half, and Vitalis Stankevičius scored the second away goal from the penalty spot in added time.
The situation in the battle of the leaders remains unchanged - "Kaunas" still holds a 12-point lead over Panevėžys "Ekranas" and is slowly approaching the title of champions. The Kaunas team defeated the Vilnius team at home after goals from Givi Kvaratskhelia and Linas Pilibaitis in the first half, while Paulinho's goal in the 70th minute was not enough for the visitors to avoid defeat.
"Ekranas" also secured a victory at home against "Šilutė" with three goals from Vitalijus Kavaliauskas, while the absolute underdogs from Šilutė found consolation in a goal scored by Marius Kižys. The unchanged difference between the leaders means that in order for "Kaunas" to become champions in the remaining six rounds, they practically need to win four points and also not lose in the final match against "Ekranas".
Matchday 31 Statistics:
Venue: Kaunas S. Dariaus and S. Girėno Stadium, 750 spectators Referee: Audrius Kancleris Result: 4' [1 - 0] Givi Kvaratskhelia 29' [2 - 0] Linas Pilibaitis 70' [2 - 1] Paulinho
Lineups: "Kaunas": Hertelendi; Kančelskis, Kunevičius, Bagužis, Radžius; Pilibaitis (67' Manchkava), Kvaratskhelia, Bartkus, Kšanavičius (89' Kijanskas); Beniušis (84' Stinga), Rafael
"Vilnius": Semež; Mrowiec, Artiomovas, Rodnei; Radavičius, Panka (72' Ražanauskas), Everton, Jovino (46' Muller), Paulinho; Laurišas, Wasiu
Result: 0-0
Lineups: "Šiauliai": G.Arlauskis; Oriol, Lunskis, Milevski, Strockis; Afanasenka, I.Galyuza, Juodeikis, Šidlauskas; Ščekotilin (82' Monakov), Butavičius (78' Viktoravičius)
"Atlantas": Valius; D.Žutautas, E.Žukauskas, Žernys, Lukoševičius; Gedgaudas (90' Grigaitis), Petreikis (52' Danilyuk), Mockus, Navikas (85' Vraneševič); Karalius, Žvingilas
Venue: Panevėžys "Aukštaitijos" Stadium, 955 spectators Referee: Saulius Atmanavičius Result: 11' [1 - 0] Vitalijus Kavaliauskas 70' [2 - 0] Vitalijus Kavaliauskas 74' [3 - 0] Vitalijus Kavaliauskas 78' [3 - 1] Marius Kižys
Lineups: "Ekranas": Grybauskas; Paulauskas, Klimavičius, Banevičius, Skroblas; Tomkevičius, Savėnas, Kučys (63' Petrauskas), Mihalčuks (46' Lukšys); Kavaliauskas, Pogreban (77' Varnas)
"Šilutė": Kilijonas; Deveika, Z.Butkus, Užkuraitis, Žigutis; Zubavičius, Gražys, Vičius (62' Kižys), Šulkevičius (72' Grigas); Podelis, Marozas (55' Fattakhov)
Venue: Marijampolės "Sūduvos" Stadium, 1000 spectators Referee: Antanas Rubys Result: 21' [1 - 0] Karolis Jasaitis 28' [1 - 1] Maksut Azizi 81' [1 - 2] Egidijus Juška
Lineups: "Sūduva": S.Klevinskas; Mikuckis, G.Grigas, Gvildys, D.Čigladze; G.Slavickas, Miklinevičius (68' Mačiulis), Jasaitis, B.Čigladze (90' V.Slavickas); Maciulevičius, Abramenko (85' Urbšys)
"Vėtra": V.Žutautas; Sasnauskas, Raliukonis, Žudys, Barmoš; Talancev (57' Šernas), Miloševski, Juška, Vėževičius; Azizi (75' Vencevičius), Lovčev (70' R.Karčemarskas)
Venue: Vilnius "Žalgiris" Stadium, 350 spectators Referee: Marijus Jazbutis Result: 25' [1 - 0] Valerijus Mižigurskis 34' [2 - 0] Igoris Morinas 36' [3 - 0] Eimantas Poderis (pen.) 63' [3 - 1] Marius Činikas 90+3' [3 - 2] Vitalis Stankevičius (pen.)
Lineups: "Žalgiris": Šetkus; Choruži, Ngapunu, I.Steško, Krukovski; Morinas (79' Puotkalis), Miliškevičius, Poderis (73' Lemežis), Bursuc; Mižigurskis (86' A.Steško), Labukas
"Nevėžis": Jazokas; Valančius, Slepakovas, Rimavičius (67' D.Adomaitis), Juknevičius; Kestenis, S.Butkus (80' Venckus), Bezykornovas, Mykolaitis (41' Daunoravičius), Činikas; V.Stankevičius
League standings:
