© EuroFootball.com
In the eighth round of the A League, one of the championship leaders "Žalgiris" won a minimal victory of 1-0 in Šiauliai, thus extending its successful winning streak and remaining one of the championship leaders.
Šiauliai Mayor's Stadium, 1600 spectators Referee – Audrius Žuta 0-1 Vilnius 82' [0 - 1] Nikolaj Misiuk
"Šiauliai": Giedrius Arlauskis; Vilius Lapeikis (87‘ Vaidas Viktoravičius); Deivydas Lunskis; Davidas Arlauskis; Egidijus Žukauskas; Vaidas Šilėnas; Mindaugas Lukoševičius (86‘ Aleksandr Zabara); Gintaras Juodeikis; Intras Kirhners; Viktor Raskov; Valery Tshyhanenko (64‘ Gediminas Butavičius)
"Žalgiris": Ernestas Šetkus; Igorius Steško; Bertrand Ngapounou; Edvinas Lukoševičius; Anatoliy Ostap; Raimondas Vilėniškis; Virmantas Lemežis (58' Eimantas Poderis); Igoris Morinas; Iulian Bursuc; Valerijus Mižigurskis (90‘ Arvydas Veikutis); Nikolaj Misiuk
The "Žalgiris" players, one of the league leaders, started the match more aggressively. At the beginning of the match, as often in all matches, the guests often found themselves on the sidelines.
Right at the start of the match, just a few minutes after the referee's whistle signaling the start of the match, a great opportunity was missed by "Žalgiris" player Raimondas Vilėniškis, as his shot went over the goal.
Meanwhile, the "Šiauliai" players rarely approached the Vilnius goal in the first 20 minutes.
The captain of the Šiauliai team, Egidijus Žukauskas, created the first slightly better opportunity for the team by shooting inaccurately from a distance.
Shortly afterwards, the hosts created another opportunity - Latvian legionnaire Intars Kirchners broke through on the right flank and passed the ball into the penalty area, where Vaidas Šilėnas shot at the goal, but the ball missed the goal.
After playing just over half of the first half, the Vilnius player Nikolajus Misiukas shot from a sharp angle, but the ball was deflected out of bounds by the Šiauliai goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis with his fingertips.
Midway through the second half, Vaidas Šilėnas touched the ball with his hand in the penalty area and the referee immediately awarded a penalty kick to the hosts. The captain of the capital's team, I. Morinas, stepped up to take it, but the young Šiauliai goalkeeper G. Arlauskis rejected the veteran's shot.
However, "Žalgiris" eventually achieved their goal. Just a few minutes before the end of the second half, the Vilnius team launched a counterattack. V. Mižigurskis passed the ball to his attacking partner Nikolaj Misiuk, who scored a goal into the "Šiauliai" goal. After the goal, there was a conflict between the fans of "Žalgiris" and "Šiauliai", which continued after the match.
Trailing, the residents of Šiauliai strengthened their offense with two substitutions: Aleksandras Zabara replaced Mindaugas Lukoševičius on the field, and forward Vaidas Viktoravičius replaced defender Vilius Lapeikis.
Pressuring the opponents and creating several dangerous opportunities, the hosts had two dangerous shots by Viktor Raskov, a dangerous shot by I. Kirchner, a dangerous situation after a corner kick, but it did not result in a positive outcome for "Šiauliai".
After the loss, "Šiauliai" coach Darius Magdišauskas took a long time to prepare for the conversation with journalists. He said that the team lacked luck: "We lacked the luck that accompanied us in the previous matches. We did not execute the game plan. An extremely doubtful penalty kick was awarded."
The coach said that the opponent was very strong: "The opponent is strong, as evidenced by their place in the standings. But we have to fight against all opponents."
"Žalgiris" coach Arminas Narbekovas said that his team won deservedly: "Nervous match. Perhaps the quality of the field slightly hindered achieving a different result. The fight won. We created so many opportunities, and I think we deservedly won."
