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The second victory out of as many possible in the Lithuanian "A League" championship was won by Vilnius "Žalgiris". The capital team started the second round of matches on Tuesday with a game against Marijampolė's "Sūduva" at their home ground and won after a lone goal by Nikolajus Misiukas.
Vilnius "Žalgiris" stadium, 560 spectators Referee - Deivis Kančelskis 1 - 0 72' [1 - 0] Nikolaj Misiukas
"Žalgiris": Šetkus; Dubina, Ngapounou, I.Steško, Lukoševičius; Choruži (90' Puotkalis), Lemežis, Vilėniškis, Bursuc; Poderis (65' Misiukas), Morinas (90' Mižigurskis)
"Sūduva": S.Klevinskas; V.Slavickas, Grigas (46' Mikuckis), Skinderis, Sobol; Urbšys (79' G.Slavickas), Miklinevičius, Kozyuberda, Willer; Juška, Braga (46' Jasaitis)
The game was started more actively by the team from Vilnius, but they were unable to take too much advantage of it and the game slowly evened out. The first opportunity to score came in the 6th minute for Igoris Morinas, but after a high pass from Iuliano Bursuc on the right attacking side, the forward shot well over the goal.
In the 9th minute, I.Morinas missed the target again, this time with a header - the ball once again passed beside the goal, posing no real threat to the "Sūduva" goalkeeper.
Later on, the game calmed down and most of the time was played in the middle of the field. The guests created their first chance in the 29th minute, when Ottavio Braga shot from 13 meters after a pass from Willer Oliveiros, but the goalkeeper Ernestas Šetkus managed to catch the ball and eliminate the danger.
After a few minutes, he had to blame the defenders, who were unable to stop a great attack from the Marijampolė footballers, ending with a somewhat imprecise long shot by the Brazilian W.Oliveiros.
In the remaining time of the first half, neither team managed to create anything dangerous and the players left the field at halftime with a 0-0 result.
In the second half of the match, "Žalgiris" took control of the game into their own hands and started to dominate on the field. Meanwhile, the players from Marijampolė had difficulty finding their way to the opponents' goal and spent most of the time in their own half.
In the 55th minute, I.Morinas tested the goalkeeper of "Sūduva" with a shot from 15 meters, and a few moments later Virmantas Lemežis also tried his luck, but both times the goalkeeper managed to defend the shots.
The hosts' attack was boosted in the 65th minute with the appearance of forward Nikolajus Misiukas, who replaced Eimantas Poderis.
During one of the first attacks, the defenders only managed to clear the ball to the forward in the last moment, and after a corner kick, the forward shot over the goal with his head. A little later, N.Misiukas delighted the few spectators with an impressive but very imprecise shot over the goal.
After a few minutes, "Žalgiris" had a chance to take the lead, but the penalty kick from I.Bursuc from 17 meters was inaccurate.
Finally, the long-awaited goal came in the 72nd minute - after a mistake by the "Sūduva" defenders, N.Misiukas was left alone against the goalkeeper S.Klevinskas on the right side of the penalty area and sent the ball into the net with a strong shot from close range. Immediately after this episode, the player ran to the stands to celebrate the goal and was punished with a yellow card.
In the 83rd minute, N.Misiukas had a chance to score a second goal, but standing next to the goal, he only weakly reached the ball passed to him and shot too weakly to cause any problems for the goalkeeper.
Even though they were behind, the players of "Sūduva" were unable to take the initiative or organize anything resembling a decisive attack. The only chance the visitors had came just before the final whistle, but after a substitution, former Žalgiris player Tomas Mikuckis shot from 20 meters and the ball passed beside the goal.
The people of Vilnius celebrated, probably, a deserved victory and for now became the sole leaders of the "A League". Meanwhile, for "Sūduva" it was their first failure - in the first match, the Samogitians defeated "Šilutė" at home.
