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On Saturday, the second round matches of the "A Lyga" began. In the first match in Vilnius, the third-placed "Žalgiris" equalized the result at the end of the match against Klaipėda's "Atlantas".
Vilnius "Žalgiris" stadium Referee - Deivis Kančelskis Vilnius 1 - 1 Klaipeda 57` [0 - 1] Luka Aničič 86` [1 - 1] Aleksandras Romašovas
"Žalgiris": Šetkus; Lukoševičius, Ngpapunu, I.Steško; Bursuc, Ostap, Vilėniškis (69` A.Steško), Poderis (61` Choruži), Morinas; Misiuk, Mižigurskis (46` Romašovas);
"Atlantas": Lekevičius; Šarūnas, Nesterenko, Gnedojus, Butkus; Petreikis, Pokorn (71` Noreika), Silič, Navikas (87` Surblys); Daunoravičius (79` Douglas), Aničič;
In this match, the head coach and president of "Žalgiris," Arminas Narbekovas, decided to make interesting changes to his tactical schemes and fielded only three defenders - Edvinas Lukoševičius, Bertrandas Ngapunu, and Igoris Steško.
The hosts started the match more actively, but the "Atlantas" defenders successfully dealt with the balls into their penalty area. However, the first real chance came for the visitors when Mindaugas Daunoravičius received a pass from the right and shot straight at Ernestas Šetkus from a few meters away.
After five minutes, "Žalgiris" threatened the opponents' goal - first Eimantas Poderis's long-range shot went behind the goal line, and soon Nikolajus Misiukas narrowly missed an impressive goal - the striker shot while falling over himself, and although the shot was powerful, the ball went straight to Arnas Lekevičius.
Towards the end of the first half, "Žalgiris" was awarded a penalty near the "Atlantas" penalty area. Jalenas Pokornas took a strong shot, but the ball flew straight to E. Šetkus, who easily cleared it.
Shortly after, both teams exchanged dangerous attacks: first, after a pass from Valerijus Mižigurskis, N.Misiukas shot directly at the goalkeeper from around 10 meters, and then after confusing the opponent in a counterattack, Luka Aničičius forced E. Šetkus to make a strong save.
In the 27th minute, B.Ngapunu had to head the ball away, as E.Poderis's corner kick from five meters was hit in such a way that it flew over the crossbar.
After ten minutes, M.Daunoravičius had several great opportunities - first, after a pass from captain Andrius Petreikis from the right, he headed straight at the "Žalgiris" goalkeeper, and later a shot from outside the penalty area missed the target.
As the game progressed, the teams exchanged not very dangerous long-range shots from L.Aničičius and Juliano Bursuco.
With less than ten minutes left to play, a real siege of the "Atlantas" goal began. After a pass from M.Choruži from the left, J.Bursuco's shot just missed the far post, but a few minutes later the score was leveled when A.Romašovas scored from close range after another pass from M.Choruži. For the 21-year-old player from the "Žalgiris" youth academy, this was only his third match in the "A Lyga" this season and his first goal.
"Žalgiris" did not settle for a draw and continued to press the visitors, but the "Atlantas" defenders played successfully. Meanwhile, the "Žalgiris" defense almost conceded a second goal when, in added time, three "Atlantas" players broke away from two "Žalgiris" defenders, but L.Aničičius, rather selfishly choosing to shoot from a distance, was an easy prey for E.Šetkus.
