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After almost two weeks of rest, the return of the "Optibet Pirma lyga" gave fans what they like the most. In the festive weekend of Joninės, in the 14th round of the league, teams set new records of productivity.
Joninės. It is unknown whether the fiery flames of Joninės lit up the evening or the authority of the opponents suppressed the footballers of "Be1 NFA", but they started the confrontation with the Vilnius region team "TransInvest" as if with clay feet. In the main duel of the 14th round, there was expected to be a great intrigue, especially since the leaders of the league visited one of the most combative teams. However, already in the 20th minute, the residents of Vilnius were leading by a striking 3:0 - Japanese Yoichi Kawachi, Nedas Klimavičius, and Herique Devensas scored for "Be1 NFA". After an hour of play, "TransInvest" was already leading shamefully by a huge margin of 5:0, and the evening of the people from Kaunas was ended by a red card received by Arno Paura in the 75th minute.
"Although the result does not show it, we prepared very carefully for the confrontation with the leaders. We knew they would try to crush us in the first 25 minutes, but still lacked concentration. It seemed that inexperienced youth was playing against professionals," said the Spanish coach Pablo Riosas Freire of "Be1 NFA". He added: "It's good that this is only one match in a long season."
"We ourselves did not expect such a convincing victory. It's nice that everything was decided in the first half. But I still think that "Be1 NFA" is not as weak a team as it seems from the result," said the victorious coach Giedrius Barevičius, comforting the opponents.
Mažylis. With the same striking result of 5:0, "Jonava" did not leave any hopes for "Nevėžis" from Kėdainiai. The people from Kėdainiai were outplayed by three, one more beautiful goal by one of the shortest players in the league, the Cameroonian Rosinas Christian Bella. This 22-year-old attacking winger, only 163 cm tall, proved that it was not in vain he had signed a contract with the French Ligue 1 club "Stade de Reims".
Thanks to the victory, the people from Kėdainiai climbed to the second position with 31 points, trailing by 4 points from the leaders "TransINVEST". However, in the next round, they are facing a confrontation with the league leaders in their fortress.
During the national team break, the muscles also grew for "Neptūnas" from Klaipėda. The vice-champions of the First League did not spare "Kauno Žalgiris B" with a 5:0 victory at home. The people from Klaipėda won after a series of four draws and with 21 points they share the 5-6 positions with "Garliava" from Kaunas district and "Minija" from Kretinga. The people from Kaunas had to admit a 0:1 defeat on the road to Panevėžys "Ekrano", while "Minija" took an away point in the lowland derby with a 1:1 from Plungė. Interestingly, "Minija" scored the equalizing goal immediately after captain Germanas Vaniuchinas was sent off in the 55th minute.
Grief. In the 14th round, all matches started with sad notes. A minute of silence was held to honor the memory of the captain of the Marijampolė club Karolis Chvedukas. The 32-year-old footballer's life faded at the beginning of last week due to a disorder in the heart system. This season, Karolis played in all 13 matches, and he did not live to see his 14th appearance. Shaken by the tragedy, representatives of the Marijampolė club "MML City" requested to postpone their match against Vilnius "Riteriai" B. This meeting will take place on September 7th.
The schedule was also adjusted for Vilnius "Žalgiris" B. The residents of Vilnius played two matches within a few days due to future international trials. At first, on Friday, they extended a 2:2 draw with "Panevėžio" B on their territory, and on Monday, they defeated the reserves of "Kauno Žalgiris" with 3:2 away from home. Other representatives of the capital - BFA footballers at home surpassed the reserves of "FA Šiauliai" with a score of 2:1.
