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Vilnius "Žalgiris" continues its successful performance in the Lithuanian football championship "A lyga". Arminas Narbekovas' students on Sunday at home broke the struggling Panevėžys "Ekranas" team with a minimal advantage after a three-year break, and briefly rose to the first position in the tournament table.
Vilnius "Žalgiris" stadium, 650 spectators Referee - Audrius Kancleris Vilnius 1 - 0 Panevėžys 25' [1 - 0] Edvinas Lukoševičius
"Žalgiris": Ernestas Šetkus; Marijan Choruži, Bertrand Ngapounou, Igoris Steško, Edvinas Lukoševičius; Igoris Morinas, Virmantas Lemežis (90' Artūras Steško), Raimondas Vilėniškis, Iulian Bursuc; Nikolay Misiuk (87' Anatoliy Ostap), Valerijus Mižigurskis (64' Eimantas Poderis)
"Ekranas": Bogdan Stefanovič; Gediminas Paulauskas, Laurynas Rimavičius (74' Dainius Saulėnas), Linas Klimavičius, Alfredas Skroblas; Deimantas Bička, Mantas Savėnas (46' Dominykas Galkevičius), Giedrius Tomkevičius, Sergiy Pogreban; Vitalijus Kavaliauskas (61' Egidijus Varnas), Povilas Lukšys
The last meeting of the teams last September ended in a dramatic victory for "Ekranas" with a score of 4-3, and then the referee Audrius Kancleris faced a lot of criticism from the side of "Žalgiris". This time, he was also in charge of the match, and "Žalgiris" fans even prepared a special poster for the referee.
In these matches, the Vilnius team could not help the injured defender Aleksejus Dubina, so Arminas Narbekovas, the coach of "Žalgiris", had to make changes in the team composition - Marijan Choruži moved back to defense, Igor Morinas to the midfield, and Valerijus Mižigurskis joined the attack alongside Nikolay Misiuk. The captain of "Ekranas", Mantas Savėnas, who had already recovered from an injury, was in the starting lineup.
The match was more active at the beginning by the guests, but they only made the first serious attempt in the 7th minute when M. Savėnas shot from distance. Shortly after, J. Bursukas failed to handle the free kick in the penalty area, and later, after "Žalgiris" took the initiative following a penalty kick and Edvinas Lukoševičius' pass into the goal, Bertrand Ngapunu struck, but the ball ended up in the hands of "Ekranas" goalkeeper Bogdan Stefanovič after a ricochet.
"Žalgiris" began to visit the goal of "Ekranas" more often, and after a sharp pass from Raimondas Vilėniškis to B. Stefanovičius, he had to catch the ball, and J. Bursukas' shot from the edge of the penalty area was very inaccurate. However, in the middle of the half, the hosts broke ahead - after a penalty kick and a pass into the penalty area, they avoided the offside and Edvinas Lukoševičius sent the ball into the goal from close range, his third goal of the season.
Three minutes later, the Žalgiris players launched a dangerous counterattack and broke through with three against one defender, but Virmantas Lemežis hesitated and ultimately weakly shot wide. Not long after, "Ekranas" responded - the ball ricocheted near the goal defended by Ernestas Šetkus and was sent into the net by Povilas Lukšys, a forward for the Panevėžys team.
In the 35th minute, E. Lukoševičius headed across from a corner, later J. Bursukas made another inaccurate shot, and at the end of the half, tempers flared. After a couple of rough clashes, "Ekranas" captain M. Savėnas could not hold back and got into a scuffle with Žalgiris defender R. Vilėniškis.
However, after lengthy discussions, A. Kancleris settled for warnings for both players, and at the end of the half, he also showed a yellow card to V. Mižigurskis for rough play. The teams went to calm down in the dressing rooms with Žalgiris leading 1-0.
After the break, one of the main culprits of the incident, M. Savėnas, did not return to the field - he was replaced by Dominykas Galkevičius. The Žalgiris defense began to falter, and in the 52nd minute, V. Kavaliauskas nearly took advantage of a sloppy pass from E. Lukoševičius, shooting wide near the goal after a sharp run from the penalty area. Soon, Povilas Lukšys missed a one-on-one opportunity, while on the other side of the pitch, J. Bursukas again struck to the stands.
In the middle of the half, Marijan Choruži made a mistake, and Sergiy Pogreban dangerously shot, but E. Šetkus parried the "Ekranas" defender's attempt. A few minutes later, Žalgiris barely defended after a corner, as no "Ekranas" player managed to break through the dense defense, and in the 75th minute, Giedrius Tomkevičius struck from long range.
Žalgiris increasingly retreated to defense and tried to counterattack, but many interruptions in the game prevented the Panevėžys team from creating more serious chances. As the match approached its conclusion, after one of the rare counterattacks by the hosts along the edge, I. Morinas broke through, but the "Ekranas" defenders blocked N. Misiuk's shot, while on the other side of the field, Deimantas Bička missed the goal from 20 meters.
Already in added time, one of the closest attempts after a melee in the penalty area was by the visitors' goalkeeper G. Tomkevičius, whose shot was blocked by E. Šetkus, and the last attempt by "Ekranas" was made by Gediminas Paulauskas, who shot from distance straight into the home team's goalkeeper. Žalgiris held on and after an 11-game break, they defeated "Ekranas" to claim their third victory in this "A lyga" season.
