© E. Žaldario
Kaunas region. "Hegelmann Lithuania" club presented one of the biggest surprises of this season in "Optibet A League" - Andrius Skerla's students defeated defending champions Vilnius "Žalgiris" 2:1 (1:0) in their own field. With this victory, the people of Kaunas avenged the capital's club for their failure in the first round match - back then, "Žalgiris" also won 2:0 at home. In this match, "Žalgiris" left Hugo Videmont and Ogenyi Onazi, who usually start in the lineup, on the bench from the start of the game, but both appeared on the field after halftime. On Saturday in Kaunas, the guests tried to take the initiative from the very beginning, but their attacks lacked sharpness, and the hosts' defense line and goalkeeper played successfully. After withstanding the first wave of attacks, "Hegelmann Lithuania" had their chance and surged forward - just under 10 minutes into the game, Nauris Petkevičius broke away from the opponents' defenders and with a shot into the far corner of the goal, put his team ahead. Later on, the Vilnius team continued to have possession, but they failed to create clearer opportunities. Meanwhile, after the break, "Hegelmann Lithuania" provided their opponents with a second, and as it turned out, decisive blow, when after a beautiful combination of several passes, Yukiyoshi Karashima sent the ball into the goal of Edvinas Gerdmonas - for him, it was the first goal playing in Lithuania. Later, the hosts continued to let the opponents have more possession, but they defended reliably and did not give the Vilnius team any serious chances. In the last minute of regular time, Tomislav Kiš scored with a precise shot to reduce the deficit to a minimum, but that was all "Žalgiris" could achieve.
