In 2020, there’s the Belarusian Premier League, and there’s the rest of Europe.
Months within the COVID-19 era and football leagues around the globe are looking for a road-map to come back and play. Meanwhile, the Belarusian season is rolling in full power.
Sunday hosted four matches that produced multiple goals and saw the struggling giants finally make things look easy.
Belshina Bobryisk v Dynamo Brest 0-3
The first match of the day saw the newly promoted Belshina hosting reigning champions Dynamo Brest. It went exactly as you can imagine. Brest waited for a game like this since the season started and had no mercy for the Belshina freshmen.
An own goal by Vladislav Yasukevich early in the game (12’), along with two more in the second half by Mikhail Gordeychuk (52’) and Denis Laptev (63’) made it look easy for the champions, whom after a hysterical start of the season, got their much needed ‘oxygen’ injection.
Vitebsk v Slaviya Mozyr 2-3
This match was a real roller coaster. Francis Nrah, Mozyr’s Ghanian forward, scored the first one in a penalty in the 34th minute, but the visitors couldn’t hold on to their lead. In the second half Vitebsk turned the table around, and with a quick double by Artem Gurenko (56’) and Moldovan Ion Nicolaescu (65’) made it 2-1 to Vitebsk.
It seemed that the points were staying at the Centralnyj Stadion, but Maksym Sliusar equalized in 87th minute and a minute later added another one in a slightly dubious penalty. 3-2 to Slaviya Mozyr on the verge of the final whistle, scenes in Vitebsk!
Bate Borisov v Neman Grodno 3-1
Another unstable team this season, but yet a mega-club in local measures, is BATE Borisov.
The eternal champions of Belarus are continuing their unstable run from last season, seeing the back of Torpedo Zhodino and Slutsk. Luckily for them, a numb rival such as Neman Grodno came just in time. Bojan Dubajic and Igor Stasevich made it a fast 2-0 after 17 minutes.
Gegam Kadimyan managed to grab one back for Neman, but Pavel Nekhaychik notched the last nail in Grodno’s “dancing coffin”. 3-1 to BATE, that suddenly completes a whole month without a loss.
Shakhtyor Soligorsk v Isloch Minsk Raion 4-0
This mid-table clash pitted two teams who probably won’t threat the throne, but also are not likely to fight against relegation. Isloch only looked to leave Soligrosk with a point, but local Shakhtyor had different plans. The hosts simply hammered Isloch with four goals without response. Vitaly Lisakovich with a brace, Dmitri Potsrelov and Austrian Darko Bodul secured in the easy win.
The victory sent Soligorsk up to the sixth place while Isloch went down to fifth. With only a point between them, it seems that both teams can become bitter rivals as the season will go further.
