© EuroFootball.com
Today in Ventspils, last season's Lithuanian vice-champions, Panevėžys, will face off against the Latvian champions in the Baltic Football League B group matches.
The Panevėžys team traveled to Latvia with their strongest lineup - the team will only be missing the injured 28-year-old defender Mindaugas Gardzijauskas, who became a key player at the end of last season.
“Ekranas” won their first BFL match last week against Tallinn's "TVMK" by a score of 2-1, but the Panevėžys team were very lucky at the end of the match when the young "TVMK" forward Oliver Konsa missed a free header from about 3 meters out.
However, before facing "TVMK", the Lithuanian champions played with a very young defensive line, as key defenders Dainius Gleveckas and Gediminas Paulauskas were injured just before the match. Both of these defenders should play in Saturday's match, and former Donetsk "Shakhtar" defender D. Gleveckas will be playing his first official match after a long break wearing the "Ekranas" jersey.
Meanwhile, under the guidance of Roman Grigorchuk, "Ventspils" secured a narrow 0-1 victory against "TVMK" in Tallinn midweek, with the only goal scored by Aleksejs Soloveiciks.
These matches should be special for "Ekranas" defender and veteran Deimantas Bička, who represented the Ventspils club last season, but became surplus to requirements along with another veteran Igor Stukalins.
In the Latvian team's lineup, not only does the best defender of the previous season's "Virsliga", Jean-Paul Ndeki, who attracted the attention of several prominent clubs, play, but also three Latvian national team players: defender Deniss Kačanovs, midfielder Evgeny Kosmachovs, and Lithuanian-born forward Vits Rimkus.
According to EuroFootball.com, there is a great atmosphere within the team, and head coach Saulius Širmelis expects to secure all three points against "Ventspils" in the match.
After these matches, "Ekranas" will head to a week-long training camp in Palanga, which will be the last preparation for the upcoming Lithuanian championship.
Possible lineups:
"Ekranas": Bogdan Stefanovic; Gediminas Paulauskas, Dainius Gleveckas, Linas Klimavicius, Alfredas Skroblas; Deimantas Bicka, Mantas Savenas, Giedrius Tomkevicius, Sergej Pogreban; Vitalijus Kavaliauskas, Povilas Luksys.
"Ventspils": Vanins; Soleičuks, Ndeki, Kačanovs, Gončars, Kosmačovs, Dubenskis, Zizilevs, Kolesničenko, Rimkus, Slesarčuks;
