The first league tour: record victories and joys of parenthood

2024-05-27 20:30 © lff.lt

Vilnius BFA footballers were already loading their sports bags for the trip to the match when they found out that their head coach would not be traveling with them. At home, due to an important reason, the remaining coach from Mažeikiai brought an equally important point. These and other quirks were not lacking in the 11th round of the "TOPsport Pirma lyga" league.

Father. "Today we had a big celebration. In the morning of the match, we found out that the coach's son was born, so I had to substitute for him. It's nice that we are bringing this point to the young father," said Dmitrijus Kartašovas.

This specialist, together with colleagues, had to substitute for the head coach Haroldas Šidlauskas, whose wife had given birth to a son just in time for Father's Day. BFA boys, under the guidance of D. Kartašovas, sent well-wishes to their head coach as early as the 35th second of the match when they broke through with a sudden counter-attack to take the lead 1:0. The "atmosphere" was not long in coming, as they scored 1:1 in the 14th minute from a penalty. The first draw of the season left the Mažeikiai team in 10th place, but if they were to win their postponed match, they could climb to as high as 5th place for BFA.

The match between Panevėžio "Ekranas" and Gargždai "Banga" also ended in a 1:1 draw. The league's underdogs from Gargždai took the lead at home after Eriko Smulkis scored in the 13th minute, but Taras Hevlychas equalized for the visitors before halftime. The young players of "Banga" resisted until the end and earned their 6th point of the season. This modest gain does not allow them to rise from the bottom of the tournament. Meanwhile, the Panevėžys team remains in 9th place with 14 points.

Cup. On Saturday, in the 11th round, the "Ekranas" footballers did not lose sight of the "LFK FPRO" Cup tournament. Already on Tuesday, the Panevėžys team faced another team from the First League in the Cup quarterfinals - Kėdainiai "Nevėžis". The Kėdainiai team had one more rest day, but they would have probably agreed to play even on Sunday if it would have helped them recover from the match against Klaipėda "Neptūnas." However, the Klaipėda team demonstrated excellent form on the road. Their convincing 2-0 victory did not even falter when Brice Goupy missed a penalty kick.

With a similar result of 0-2, another representative of the First League in the Cup quarterfinals - Plungės "Babrungas" ended their performance in the 11th round. The Plungė team had their chances, but failed to score and had to admit defeat to Jonava's "Be1" team. The hosts were ahead with the first goal scored by Ernestas Mickevičius at the beginning of the match. "Be1" is aiming for the top of the team's rankings. Jonava's lead over the second-placed "Neptūnas" is only two points, but they still have a match in reserve.

Chasers. Vilnius "Riteriai" are nervously watching the pursuers from Klaipėda and Jonava. The Vilnius team could have secured a more peaceful life at the top of the league, but squandered a solid lead at home against Kretinga "Minija." Nojus Petkus and Deimantas Rimpa made the hosts take the lead 2-0 at the start of the second half. Just as they were about to celebrate their 5th consecutive victory, the visitors from Kretinga turned the game around in a minute and a half. Former "Riteriai" legionnaire Pierre Okende scored in the 76th minute to narrow the lead, and Kohei Yoshida scored the equalizer in the 77th minute (2-2).

The draw in Vilnius did not change the situation for "Minija" and left them in 13th place. The Kretinga team could not overtake the "Hegelmann" B team one step up. Tadas Vilkevičius' team fell behind at home in the Kaunas district derby against the visitors from Garliava, 0-1 in the 76th minute, but Kipras Olšauskas equalized right away - 1-1. "Garliava," with just 8 points, is only ahead of the "Banga" youth team.

Records. The "Šiauliai" second team who were previously behind the Garliava team, were seen off by the "Šiauliai" reserves. The team from the sunny city did not spare "Panevėžio" B with a score of 4-0. The result was unexpected, as the Panevėžys team was several steps above before the match. Both teams relied on their young talents in the derby of reserves, deploying just a few players from their A-League teams. The Šiauliai team had enough of those few players - especially Gabijus Micevičius, who proved himself deserving of a return to the men's team with two goals (19 and 74 min.).

Like "Šiauliai" B, Tauragės "Tauras" also achieved a record-breaking victory in the 11th round. The Tauragė team hosted "Kauno Žalgiris" B and tried to exploit the weaknesses of the visitors for 40 minutes. Eventually, South Korean Lee Minwoo capitalized on a mistake by the Kaunas team with the first goal. After the break, the Žalgiris team completely collapsed, and the "Tauras" team stopped only with a knockout result - 5-0. The Tauragė team rose three places to 8th position.

Information from 1lyga.lt;