© V. Kuralavičiaus
After a month break, the teams of "Kauno Žalgiris" and Marijampolė's "Sūduva" returned to the battles of the "Optibet A League" and in the 19th round they held a thrilling six-goal draw. The highly eventful match ended with a satisfying result for both sides - 3:3 (0:1). Playing with a significantly weakened lineup, the hosts quickly conceded the first goal - debutant goalkeeper Airidas Mickevičius pulled the ball out of the net after a precise header by Jordan N'Kololo in the 4th minute. Both the defender who scored the first goal in "Sūduva" and Nicolas Gorobsovas had chances to double the score, while Deividas Šešplaukis stood out among the hosts and Philip Otele, who replaced Martynas Dapkus in the first half, shone among the "Žalgiris" players. It was Otele who equalized the score in the 52nd minute and scored a goal after almost three months break. This was Otele's 8th precise shot this year, assisted by Michael Thuique, who added another assist. Soon after, the hosts could have taken the lead from a set piece, but quickly conceded two goals. Serge Nyuiadzi scored goals in the 67th and 71st minutes after playing a great game. It seemed that "Sūduva" was heading towards a certain victory, but in the 90th minute Linas Pilibaitis scored another penalty goal, and in the fourth minute of added time Rimvydas Sadauskas created a small miracle, sending the ball into the net after a mistake by Makio Giannikoglou. Olivier Rommens and Nicolas Taravelis made their debut for the Marijampolė club in this match, while "Kauno Žalgiris" gave the opportunity for the first appearance of Japanese player Yuma Suwa. This result with 40 points for "Sūduva" did not allow them to surpass Vilnius' "Žalgiris", while the Kaunas team has 38 points and is level with "Panevėžys".
