© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday evening, another pre-season friendly match was played at the "Sportima" stadium in Vilnius, where the remaining eight "Siauliai" footballers from last season were unable to beat the Vilnius reserves and had to settle for a 2-2 draw.
In these matches, the Nigerian legionnaire Amaro Atigbiolaye did not play for "Siauliai", as the decision was made to terminate his contract, and Andrius Šidlauskas, who transferred to Panevezys' "Ekranas".
"I reviewed the videos of last season's matches, observed Amaro in training and friendly matches against "Kaunas". In my opinion, this player's physical abilities are quite good, but he made many tactical mistakes," said "Siauliai" coach Darius Magdišauskas about the Nigerian. "He was learning to play football from the Lithuanians, but a legionnaire should be someone others learn from. Also, with the introduction of an additional 10,000 litas fee for legionnaires, we decided with the team leaders that it's better to allocate this money to the development of young people from Siauliai."
Score: 2-2
[1-0] Vaidotas Šilėnas
[1-1] Gediminas Skrockas
[1-2] Wasiu Akanni
[2-2] Mindaugas Lukoševičius
"Siauliai": I.Lukovičs (G.Arlauskis); G.Juodeikis, D.Strockis (M.Lukoševičius), E.Žukauskas, A.Oriol (V.Lapeikis); G.Butavičius (E.Pšelenskis (M.Valys)), D.Arlauskis (M.Kuklys), D.Lunskis, V.Tarasov (G.Timinskas), V.Šilėnas (A.Garuckas); T.Špukas (P.Olišauskas).
"Vilnius-2": Semež (Šalkauskas); Sokolovas, Stanaitis, V.Ivanov, Ovsejuk (Karčevskij); S.Ivanov (Kochanauskas (Eliošius)), Leo (Zabarauskas), Buinickij, Rinaldo (Breikštas), Skrockas (Papšys); Wasiu Akanni (Novikovas).
In these matches, many young players appeared on the field for "Vilnius" due to the absence of several main team players.
The first dangerous moment near the "Vilnius" goal ended with a goal when Vaidotas Šilėnas scored after a pass from Gediminas Butavičius. After scoring an early goal, the players from Siauliai, who had been very active in the first few minutes, calmed down a bit and let the opponents take the initiative and create a few dangerous attacks. One of them ended in an equalizing goal when Gediminas Skrockas, a player from the national youth team, scored from a sharp angle into Ingus Lukovics' goal.
Ten minutes later, "Siauliai" made a defensive mistake again, and Nigerian Wasiu Akanni put the hosts ahead. At the beginning of the second half, the Vilnius team had a chance to increase their lead, but a Vilnius attacker, left alone against Giedrius Arlauskis, failed to beat him.
Midway through the half, "Siauliai" stepped up their game, with dangerous shots from Gintaras Juodeikis and David Arlauskis. Finally, the advantage in playing was turned into goals when after a prolonged attack, Mindaugas Lukoševičius sent the ball into the lower corner of the goal from about 16 meters away.
"The players started the match 'enthusiastically'," said D.Magdišauskas after the game. "I saw the kind of game I would like to see throughout the match until the goal was scored. However, after scoring, the players relaxed, made some positional mistakes, which the opponents capitalized on."
"Siauliai" will travel to Belarus on Monday for a training camp in Grodno until March 10. On Tuesday and Friday, the team will play against the I and highest league teams of this country. Several Belarusian strikers will arrive for the team's evaluation. However, due to injuries sustained during the match against "Vilnius", G.Butavičius, as well as previously injured Paulius Šidlauskas and Vaidas Viktoravičius, will not be able to join the camp.
