A side in freefall travelled to an ultra-defensive outfit mired in a relegation scrap on Sunday, in a game which even devotees of Gorodeya and Energetik couldn't talk up as anything more than a gubbins afterthought to an exciting weekend in the league.
Energetik again shuffled the pack; Lesko continued in goal with Sadovskiy seemingly banished to the reserves for the weekend, Miroshnikov returned in place of Shkurdyuk, with Osnov on at left wing back from the beginning, and Girs his opposite number on the right. There was no starting place for Mawatu again.
Energetik were almost in front within a minute, when Umarov burst down the right and fired the ball across the faced of goal, at just below head height. The on-rushing Osnov tried to convery the chance but was denied brilliantly by home goalkeeper Dovgyallo. It was to become a familiar story for Energetik over the course of the evening.
The signs were positive in the goal-less first half, however. The side moved the ball better than they have done for weeks, perhaps the best ninety minutes of passing that we've seen since the Slaviya game. After 25 minutes Umarov ran onto a lovely lofted ball from Bashilov, and burst clear of Gorodeya's defence. Frustratingly, the Uzbek forward didn't make Dovgyallo work, and his snatched right foot shot bulged only the side-netting.
Gorodeya's defensive attitude astonished me. Manager Oleg Radushko set up his side as though they were playing a parallel-universe Europa league tie against someone like Borussia Dortmund, not a domestic team that had shipped fourteen goals in three straight defeats. They persisted with a really deep-lying 4-2-3-1 formation and were little seen as an attacking force in the opening half hour; a weak back pass shot and a scumbled effort drifiting wide of the post was about as good as it got for them. Comically, when their best chance came, it was a free kick from about thirty yards dinked over our wall and missed totally by Haïk in the air. The ball fell to Kozel seven yards out with only Lesko to beat, only for the forward to produce a bizarre defensive clearance rather than a shot. Who knows what on earth that was meant to be. Even seven yards out from goal with the opposing keeper largely helpless, it seems that a Gorodeya player's primeval instinct is to wallop the ball to safety rather than have a shot.
Energetik don't do half time very well. I'm not sure whether it's a demoralising half-time mumble from Vladimir, or just losing focus too much, but we are always quite vulnerable after the break. Gorodeya had their best twenty minutes at the beginning of the second period. Russian left back Albert Gabarev hit a dangerous ball across the box that eluded everyone and flicked the base of Lesko's right hand post; Kozel met an in-swinging corner unchallenged, and headed wide; a Lazar Sajčić free-kick forced Lesko into a tumbling full-length save to his left. Gorodeya seemed to have remembered that they were at home and that really it might be incumbent upon them to maybe try and at least have one worthwhile shot on goal.
Gorodeya finally took the lead on the hour mark, strangely just after our best spell of the half. Kozel found himself in space on the left hand side of our area, having been played in by a nice ball from Yuri Volovik. The big forward blasted a rising cross-cum shot which Lesko parried, ineffectively. The ball, with the Energetik defence wrong-footed, dropped in a lazy arc leaving Senkevich to bag his easiest goal of the season. Advantage Gorodeya.
Energetik tried to counter but Dovgyallo was on hand to block Bakić's flying header acrobatically, as the game finally reached tepid point. At the other end gangling central midfielder Denis Yashkovich rose unchallenged to header a dinked Senkevich free kick off the bar and down onto the goal-line; Lesko, who had almost scored an own-goal from the re-bound, frantically cleared the ball from the goal-line. Another goal was coming, fortunately at the other end. A Shohkboz Umarov free kick from around thirty yards was deflected into the path of Dušan Bakić, about ten yards out. The Montenegrin placed the ball in the path of the permanent substitute, Vasili Sovpel. Sovpel basted the ball home into the top right-hand corner with a furious drive that even Dovgyallo didn't try to stop. 1-1.
Energetik controlled the game well after that. There was one further brilliant Doygyallo stop, two ludicrous attempted bicycle kicks, one from each side (Bakić being our culprit) and that was it.
The goalkeeper is probably in my top 3 in the league- to my mind only Neman’s Dudar and Shahktyor’s Gutor are better all-rounders. Dovgyallo is arguably more consistent than Gutor, too. He was clearly man of the match and the home team would have lost without him. He is really under-rated, enjoying an Indian summer at the end os a surprisingly modest career.
The game certainly lived down to expectations and was of quite a poor quality. I am happy with our showing, however, A better side would have sunk us, but we had a better spirit and shape to us and were well worthy of the point- other than that tough spell after half time Gorodeya really didn't threaten at all. A point away from a difficult venue against a side we don't have a good record against, garnered without being anywhere near our best, was a really pleasing result for me. The rot has been stopped and we can now face a very hard next match against Neman Grodno without having to process the ins and outs of another demoralising defeat. As for home coach Radushko, he might reflect that setting up so defensively in a game such as this isn't really the best way to approach trying to pull away from relegation trouble as quickly as possible. The most surprising thing about the game for me was how content Gorodeya were with a point.
2. Dinamo Brest beat Vitebsk at their own game
After Shahktyor's training-match cakewalk against hapless Slutsk on Friday, the big match of the evening was at GOSK Brestskiy, where Vitebsk were the visitors. Sergei Yasinsky's side are so hard to break down and I just felt that any hopes of a victory were a bit too early for Dinamo, still recovering from their corona outbreak.
In fact, as it transpired, Dinamo put in a very Vitebsk-like performance in winning 1-0, their first triumph since a victory over Gorodeya on the 19th June. With nearly 4,500 packed into the stadium Dinamo started brightly, with a real zip in their passing, helped by Vitebsk starting the game slowly. Diallo had already nipped in between two central defenders to send an effort just wide of Artem Soroko's right-hand post, before the only goal of the game came on the quarter hour- a strike worthy of winning any game. Sharp passing across the edge of the area saw David Teklo Tweh attempt a shot which was blocked. The rebound fell to Mikhail Gordejchuk who from almost thirty yards unleashed a dipping left foot exocet that bounced into the bottom left hand corner of the net past a motionless goalkeeper. The stadium echoed with a roar from Dinamo's last season, almost as though the crowd were celebrating the recovery of the whole team, rather than just a goal.
I have no idea how Vitebsk did not equalise before half time. Artem Gurenko struck Ignatovich's left hand post with a powerful drive, about fiteen tards out, after a run and cut back from Vitebsk skipper Skitov. Diego played Maksym Kalenchuk through with a deflected ball but the central midfielder never looked confident in his ability to score, rather crashing into Ignatovich in a one on one situation. The most luckless miss was the come from Diego himself. The Brazilian rocketed diagonally into the area from the left, running onto a Nicoleascu through ball. He hit a perfect shot across Ignatovich from about twelve yards which crashed back down off the underside of the bar, and back into play. The replay credited perhaps the slightest brush of the goalkeeper's fingertips on the ball- maybe that was decisive. had Vitebsk scored in this dominant period, I am sure the roof would have come in for the home side.
But it did not. Indeed they should have been further ahead after the break when somehow Diallo headed over from all over two yards, unmarked from a corner-kick. The second half became quite niggly as the visitors were frustrated by Dinamo sitting deep, managing possession and trying to hit hard on the break- exactly the same tactics as Vitebsk have used so successfully over the course of this season. The storm from the East blew itself out, and Dinamo held on for a win that will be talked off for a while. This was a passionate, gloves-off encounter which Vitebsk failed to win for three reasons; they are incredibly profligate in front of goal, struggle in games where they expected to attack and dominate rather than hit on the counter, and where they didn't quite match Dinamo's never-say-die attitude in trying to overturn their early lead.
This was a hugely encouraging result for Sergey Kovalchuk as he attempts to lead his side out of crisis. With the Champions' League opening rounds coming up fast, Dinamo will need to draw on every reserve of strength they have in pursuit of progress in that competition, and in more "doing a Vitebsk" displays like this, as they attempt to climb up the domestic league. For Sergei Yasinsky, his focus needs to be on extracting more reliable finishing from a talented but wasteful forwards group, if any European place ambitions are to be realised.
3. Don't count Belshina Out just Yet
Saturday's clash between the bottom two at the Orezny Stadium in Smolevichi threatened to be fatal to visitors Belshina Bobruisk. Having stumbled fatally late in Gorodeya and then succumbed in very unlucky fashion at the Spartak to Neman Grodno, failure to win in this game would have meant that they were likely relegated in all but name. Belshina have been bottom of the league since late March and most observers of the league had privately written them off a while ago.
However, the club's owners are giving new manager Dmitry Migas every chance to fashion an unlikely escape. Just before this vital match Migas was authorised to sign Denis Kovalevsky, a veteran defender who had turned out seven times for Slavia Mozyr, and Pavel Kudryashov from Krylya Sovetov. Both new signings strengthen the squad well and signal that the ownership is keen to maximise the slim chances of survival that Belshina have.
I had predicted a draw in the game, but the reality was as complete a Belshina performance as there has been this season. Bar a sticky spell fifteen minutes before half time, the visitors, roared on by some impressive ultras, dominated the match through good possession and very sharp execution of set-piece plans.
Belshina took the lead with barely a minute on the clock, when Denis Levitsky found space at the edge of the six yard box to send a header flashing across the goalkeeeper and into the roof of the net for the opener. Having got in front, there was a determination and resolve about the visitors that we've rarely seen this season. Migas seems to have improved both the work-rate and spirit of togetherness in his side, which was exemplified in some desperate rearguard defending as half time neared. Goalkeeper Alexei Kharitonovch raced fully forty yards from his line to complete a remarkable slide tackle on the dangerous Vladislav Lozhkin threatened to race clear. It was a tackle that showed both bravery and vision from the keeper, which could have gone badly wrong.
Kharitonovich was also in action blocking from Dzighero at his near post and beating away a dipping drive in the same area just as the interval curtain fell. There was also a remarkable scramble in the box which saw two or three efforts blocked by both keeper and defender before the ball was hacked clear, desperately, from the goal-line. Belshina sat far too deep in this period but Smolevichi were-just-unable to take advantage.
The visitors doubled their lead with an almost carbon copy of the opening goal, just as the second half kicked off- this time it was the wily old fox Leonid Kovel who found the space to send a flicked header fizzing into the bottom right hand corner past Gomelko. Any putative comeback for Smolevichi was rather sunk with this morale-sapping blow. The tin lid was put on it when Dmitri Lebedev, just after the hour mark, hit in a nasty, dipping, in-swinging free kick from the left touchline right on top of Gomelko's head at the far post. The ball eluded the luckless stopper, hit the post, bounced back off his head and into the net; it wasn't quite clear if it had gone straight on or been forced over by the scrambling Kovel, but it didn't matter. 3-0 was a far more comfortable win than anyone predicted with Smolevichi fading fast.
Migas is clearly gambling on experience to get his side out of the awful morass that they had fallen into, in a dreadful first two-thirds of the season. Lebedev and the new arrivals may yet make all the difference for Belshina as they seek to fashion the unlikeliest of escapes. The visit of struggling Slutsk to the Spartak on Thursday is just as much of a six-pointer as Saturday's game, and should Belshina prevail in that one then they will start to believe that it is possible. In the event of a victory they will probably still need five wins from their remaining nine games after that to be sure of survival. That's probably a tall order for a side that's only just recorded a third league win of the season, but momentum with an unbeaten sequence is worth so much at the end of a season.
As for poor Smolevichi, it's really hard to see where they go from here.
4. Slavia's Defence: Entirely Theoretical
Do Slavia Mozyr have a defence? After Saturday's 2-4 home reverse to improving Isloch, I am not sure where they have a back line, or a random assembly of four guys who met in a taxi line half an hour before the game started. Outside of the bottom two their display on Saturday was one of the worst showings I've seen from a defence at this level, this season.
Poor Igor Tymonyuk, who I think was meant to be at right-back, had a particular nightmare. For the first goal, he faced up against Aleksandr Magas just outside the six yard box. Seemingly fearful of maybe giving away a penalty, Tymonyuk allowed himself to be blind-sided by his opponent, failing complete to challenge hom or try and shepherd him away from the danger area. As it transpired, he seemed to just stand and watch, gave the most half hearted attempt at a tackle as Magas swaggered past him and lifted a finely judged shot over Baranovski's head for the opener.
There was some mitigation for the second goal. Godfrey Stephen, bursting at pace into the Slavia half, sent the pass of the weekend lofted over the home defence, into the path of the on-running Makas who could scarcely believe how good the ball he has just received had been. A deft touch sent in bumbling past the on-rushing Baranovski for the second. Again, however, a coach would be entitled to ask why Makas had so much time and space to provide such a deadly finish. I think Yuri Pantya was meant to be tracking him, but he was running at half tilt ten yards behind him, like a dismayed London commuter running after a departing tube train.
Slavia would be in awful trouble if they didn't have such exciting forwards- Ghanaian Dennis Tetteh brought them back into it just before half time with a terrific powerful effort, and just after the re-start, just as in the previous game against Rukh, they fashioned the unlikeliest of equalisers, from a Vladislav Malkevich free-kick. From quite a tight angle on Slavia's right, the big midfielder fired a low shot across the box that was deflected past the luckless Hatkevich in the Isloch goal.
A 2-2 you did wonder if Isloch would fold in on themselves, having thrown their lead away, but this would have been to reckon without yet more clownshoe defending from Slavia's rearguard. No sooner had the delighted roars of the home fans receded than the Wolves were in front again. A surging an determined run down the stand side touchline saw Pavlyuchenko beaten far too easily, and the ball played into the area. Two weak headers saw two chances to clear the danger spurned, before the ball fell to Yanush. The Isloch forward had so much space as a hesitant Tymonyuk just gave him all the time he needed. Yanush lashed a powerful shot low to Baranovski's left to immediately restore the visitors' advantage. 3-2, and the most telling thing for me was the face of Slavia midfielder Andrei Chukley. He stood shaking his head, his arms outstretched in a "what the fuck" gesture at his shame-faced team-mates. An overlapping series of calamities and incompetencies had given the dangerous forward all the time he needed.
All Isloch's final goal was missing was the accompaniment of the Laurel and Hardy theme tune. Isloch put together a surging manoeuvre down their right, stringing together four or five passes at pace before the ball was switched to Makas at the right side of the pnealty area. The forward hit in a dangerous lofted cross to the far post which Gleb Shevcenko has to rise and clear. Weighed down by his dreadlocks, the talisman failed to get anywhere near the ball; an Isloch forward met it in the air like a wrecking ball, knocking Shevcenko flat and nearly knocking over the startled Baranovski, who parried desperately. Again Yanush was unmarked and unchallenged; again Tymonyuk was too slow, and too far away- about four yards away as Yanush gleefully brought order to chaos, lashing his second into the roof of the net. It was a lovely move from Isloch but generously assisted by the open-handedness of Slavia's rearguard.
Heads coach Mikhail Martsinovich has a real problem now on his hands. Slavia, in eleventh, are six points behind Rukh Brest in tenth, and are now being dragged into a relegation battle. They have conceded thirty six goals this season, with only Belshina having a worse record at the back. Martsinovich has brought in some new players recently but I suspect his close season priorities will be two reliable centre halves and a regular first choice keeper with most of his career ahead of him. I really enjoy watching Slavia games at the Yunost for their passionate home support and the unpredictable entertainment value that a maverick and unpredictable side brings to the league. But, at present, they are only half a team, and their talented forwards are being let down by repeated failures at the back. The coach needs somehow to make this side into more of a team before the season's end, and try to bring the Mozyr club much more securely into mid-table. If Martsinovich can't do this, and Slavia flirt more with the drop, maybe the owners will ask someone else to try and make more of their investment next term.
5. Brittle BATE choke : Fatally?
Briefly on the game of Sunday- what a match. Those who hoped that BATE's recent two wins might have ended their sticky spell of results were to be sorely disappointed. Torpedo, who have had a really poor record in these central Belarusian derby games, turned around an early two goal deficit to take the derby 3-2 and end Kirill Alshevsky's fortnight of respite from bad headlines.
BATE's goals were well taken but you felt that the Torpedo goalkeeper could have done better on both occasions. The goal of the first half, though, was from skipper Khachaturyan just before half-time. Gabi Ramos, desperately trying to pull his side back into it, jinked at the edge of the area before laying a weighted pass across the face of the area to the captain. He met the ball perfectly, sending an unstoppable right foot drive into the bottom right hand corner of the net. Although behind at half time, this goal hugely lifted the home spirits and laid the platform for their second half comeback.
The catalyst for the win was the introduction of former BATE youth teamer Dmitri Antilevski into the fray. His hard running just before the hour and deft ball set up Ramos for the equaliser, although again you feel that visiting goalkeeper Shcherbitski could have done better- the ball trundling in low at the far post despite the BATE golkeeper getting a full hand on it. Placement of the shot was everything, some may argue. Unbelievably, the home team were in front less than a minute later urged on by a charged, intense atmosphere. This time Antilevski was the scorer, getting in front of his marker and meeting a perfectly judged cross from Vladimir Shcherbo to guide the ball home into the bottom right hand corner. 3-2.
What will have disappointed BATE fans most was the failure of their team to really mount a serious challenge as the game wound down. A motivated and energised home team saw the game out very comfortably and on another day may have won by more. With Neman and Shahktyor already having their three points on the board, this was a really damaging blow to the Borisov side, and seems at present to be a key turning point in the title race.
There was the best atmosphere of the season at Zhodino stadium as a partisan home crowd got right behind Yuri Puntus' side and saw them show a spirit and an appetite for the fray that they have shown too rarely this season. Torpedo have tightened their grip on fourth place and simply need to keep doing better than Dynamo Minsk to stay there. Puntus's target therefore is pretty straightforward for the rest of the season and this result with give his players a huge fillip. Football always throws up these strange scenarios, but a legendary founding manager and a discarded youth team striker coming together to sink their former employers just adds spice to the win.
I don't think it's too controversial now to state that BATE will not win the league this season. Champions don't collapse like this. They will have a different, re-shaped squad next season and- almost certainly- a different coach. They resemble Liverpool in the early nineties when other sides lost of their fear of them, and they stopped winning things. It's a really difficult moment for the Borisov club and it may be some time, on this evidence, before they dominate the Vysheyshaya Liga again.
6. Looking Forward
There's one more round of fixtures to come before the league goes into a (kind of) recess for ten days or so. Next weekend, the games all move forward a day, beginning on Thursday, to accommodate the presidential election on Sunday the 9th.
As well as Neman's visit to Molodechno, I'll be keeping a particular eye on the two games mentioned in the things we learned above, as well as Shahktyor against Dinamo Brest at Stroitel, a very intriguing and likely tough game for the potash barons. After that, the next full weekend fixture card begins on the 21st of August, with the last weekend of the month featuring some very entertaining clashes in the Belarusian cup. It's not yet clear if any of the cup games will be screened live via youtube, so maybe we will have a reminder that weekend then of how footballing life used to be, before the pandemic.
Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @DreadlocksGleb
The game certainly lived down to expectations and was of quite a poor quality. I am happy with our showing, however, A better side would have sunk us, but we had a better spirit and shape to us and were well worthy of the point- other than that tough spell after half time Gorodeya really didn't threaten at all. A point away from a difficult venue against a side we don't have a good record against, garnered without being anywhere near our best, was a really pleasing result for me. The rot has been stopped and we can now face a very hard next match against Neman Grodno without having to process the ins and outs of another demoralising defeat. As for home coach Radushko, he might reflect that setting up so defensively in a game such as this isn't really the best way to approach trying to pull away from relegation trouble as quickly as possible. The most surprising thing about the game for me was how content Gorodeya were with a point.
2. Dinamo Brest beat Vitebsk at their own game
After Shahktyor's training-match cakewalk against hapless Slutsk on Friday, the big match of the evening was at GOSK Brestskiy, where Vitebsk were the visitors. Sergei Yasinsky's side are so hard to break down and I just felt that any hopes of a victory were a bit too early for Dinamo, still recovering from their corona outbreak.
In fact, as it transpired, Dinamo put in a very Vitebsk-like performance in winning 1-0, their first triumph since a victory over Gorodeya on the 19th June. With nearly 4,500 packed into the stadium Dinamo started brightly, with a real zip in their passing, helped by Vitebsk starting the game slowly. Diallo had already nipped in between two central defenders to send an effort just wide of Artem Soroko's right-hand post, before the only goal of the game came on the quarter hour- a strike worthy of winning any game. Sharp passing across the edge of the area saw David Teklo Tweh attempt a shot which was blocked. The rebound fell to Mikhail Gordejchuk who from almost thirty yards unleashed a dipping left foot exocet that bounced into the bottom left hand corner of the net past a motionless goalkeeper. The stadium echoed with a roar from Dinamo's last season, almost as though the crowd were celebrating the recovery of the whole team, rather than just a goal.
I have no idea how Vitebsk did not equalise before half time. Artem Gurenko struck Ignatovich's left hand post with a powerful drive, about fiteen tards out, after a run and cut back from Vitebsk skipper Skitov. Diego played Maksym Kalenchuk through with a deflected ball but the central midfielder never looked confident in his ability to score, rather crashing into Ignatovich in a one on one situation. The most luckless miss was the come from Diego himself. The Brazilian rocketed diagonally into the area from the left, running onto a Nicoleascu through ball. He hit a perfect shot across Ignatovich from about twelve yards which crashed back down off the underside of the bar, and back into play. The replay credited perhaps the slightest brush of the goalkeeper's fingertips on the ball- maybe that was decisive. had Vitebsk scored in this dominant period, I am sure the roof would have come in for the home side.
But it did not. Indeed they should have been further ahead after the break when somehow Diallo headed over from all over two yards, unmarked from a corner-kick. The second half became quite niggly as the visitors were frustrated by Dinamo sitting deep, managing possession and trying to hit hard on the break- exactly the same tactics as Vitebsk have used so successfully over the course of this season. The storm from the East blew itself out, and Dinamo held on for a win that will be talked off for a while. This was a passionate, gloves-off encounter which Vitebsk failed to win for three reasons; they are incredibly profligate in front of goal, struggle in games where they expected to attack and dominate rather than hit on the counter, and where they didn't quite match Dinamo's never-say-die attitude in trying to overturn their early lead.
This was a hugely encouraging result for Sergey Kovalchuk as he attempts to lead his side out of crisis. With the Champions' League opening rounds coming up fast, Dinamo will need to draw on every reserve of strength they have in pursuit of progress in that competition, and in more "doing a Vitebsk" displays like this, as they attempt to climb up the domestic league. For Sergei Yasinsky, his focus needs to be on extracting more reliable finishing from a talented but wasteful forwards group, if any European place ambitions are to be realised.
3. Don't count Belshina Out just Yet
Saturday's clash between the bottom two at the Orezny Stadium in Smolevichi threatened to be fatal to visitors Belshina Bobruisk. Having stumbled fatally late in Gorodeya and then succumbed in very unlucky fashion at the Spartak to Neman Grodno, failure to win in this game would have meant that they were likely relegated in all but name. Belshina have been bottom of the league since late March and most observers of the league had privately written them off a while ago.
However, the club's owners are giving new manager Dmitry Migas every chance to fashion an unlikely escape. Just before this vital match Migas was authorised to sign Denis Kovalevsky, a veteran defender who had turned out seven times for Slavia Mozyr, and Pavel Kudryashov from Krylya Sovetov. Both new signings strengthen the squad well and signal that the ownership is keen to maximise the slim chances of survival that Belshina have.
I had predicted a draw in the game, but the reality was as complete a Belshina performance as there has been this season. Bar a sticky spell fifteen minutes before half time, the visitors, roared on by some impressive ultras, dominated the match through good possession and very sharp execution of set-piece plans.
Belshina took the lead with barely a minute on the clock, when Denis Levitsky found space at the edge of the six yard box to send a header flashing across the goalkeeeper and into the roof of the net for the opener. Having got in front, there was a determination and resolve about the visitors that we've rarely seen this season. Migas seems to have improved both the work-rate and spirit of togetherness in his side, which was exemplified in some desperate rearguard defending as half time neared. Goalkeeper Alexei Kharitonovch raced fully forty yards from his line to complete a remarkable slide tackle on the dangerous Vladislav Lozhkin threatened to race clear. It was a tackle that showed both bravery and vision from the keeper, which could have gone badly wrong.
Kharitonovich was also in action blocking from Dzighero at his near post and beating away a dipping drive in the same area just as the interval curtain fell. There was also a remarkable scramble in the box which saw two or three efforts blocked by both keeper and defender before the ball was hacked clear, desperately, from the goal-line. Belshina sat far too deep in this period but Smolevichi were-just-unable to take advantage.
The visitors doubled their lead with an almost carbon copy of the opening goal, just as the second half kicked off- this time it was the wily old fox Leonid Kovel who found the space to send a flicked header fizzing into the bottom right hand corner past Gomelko. Any putative comeback for Smolevichi was rather sunk with this morale-sapping blow. The tin lid was put on it when Dmitri Lebedev, just after the hour mark, hit in a nasty, dipping, in-swinging free kick from the left touchline right on top of Gomelko's head at the far post. The ball eluded the luckless stopper, hit the post, bounced back off his head and into the net; it wasn't quite clear if it had gone straight on or been forced over by the scrambling Kovel, but it didn't matter. 3-0 was a far more comfortable win than anyone predicted with Smolevichi fading fast.
Migas is clearly gambling on experience to get his side out of the awful morass that they had fallen into, in a dreadful first two-thirds of the season. Lebedev and the new arrivals may yet make all the difference for Belshina as they seek to fashion the unlikeliest of escapes. The visit of struggling Slutsk to the Spartak on Thursday is just as much of a six-pointer as Saturday's game, and should Belshina prevail in that one then they will start to believe that it is possible. In the event of a victory they will probably still need five wins from their remaining nine games after that to be sure of survival. That's probably a tall order for a side that's only just recorded a third league win of the season, but momentum with an unbeaten sequence is worth so much at the end of a season.
As for poor Smolevichi, it's really hard to see where they go from here.
4. Slavia's Defence: Entirely Theoretical
Do Slavia Mozyr have a defence? After Saturday's 2-4 home reverse to improving Isloch, I am not sure where they have a back line, or a random assembly of four guys who met in a taxi line half an hour before the game started. Outside of the bottom two their display on Saturday was one of the worst showings I've seen from a defence at this level, this season.
Poor Igor Tymonyuk, who I think was meant to be at right-back, had a particular nightmare. For the first goal, he faced up against Aleksandr Magas just outside the six yard box. Seemingly fearful of maybe giving away a penalty, Tymonyuk allowed himself to be blind-sided by his opponent, failing complete to challenge hom or try and shepherd him away from the danger area. As it transpired, he seemed to just stand and watch, gave the most half hearted attempt at a tackle as Magas swaggered past him and lifted a finely judged shot over Baranovski's head for the opener.
There was some mitigation for the second goal. Godfrey Stephen, bursting at pace into the Slavia half, sent the pass of the weekend lofted over the home defence, into the path of the on-running Makas who could scarcely believe how good the ball he has just received had been. A deft touch sent in bumbling past the on-rushing Baranovski for the second. Again, however, a coach would be entitled to ask why Makas had so much time and space to provide such a deadly finish. I think Yuri Pantya was meant to be tracking him, but he was running at half tilt ten yards behind him, like a dismayed London commuter running after a departing tube train.
Slavia would be in awful trouble if they didn't have such exciting forwards- Ghanaian Dennis Tetteh brought them back into it just before half time with a terrific powerful effort, and just after the re-start, just as in the previous game against Rukh, they fashioned the unlikeliest of equalisers, from a Vladislav Malkevich free-kick. From quite a tight angle on Slavia's right, the big midfielder fired a low shot across the box that was deflected past the luckless Hatkevich in the Isloch goal.
A 2-2 you did wonder if Isloch would fold in on themselves, having thrown their lead away, but this would have been to reckon without yet more clownshoe defending from Slavia's rearguard. No sooner had the delighted roars of the home fans receded than the Wolves were in front again. A surging an determined run down the stand side touchline saw Pavlyuchenko beaten far too easily, and the ball played into the area. Two weak headers saw two chances to clear the danger spurned, before the ball fell to Yanush. The Isloch forward had so much space as a hesitant Tymonyuk just gave him all the time he needed. Yanush lashed a powerful shot low to Baranovski's left to immediately restore the visitors' advantage. 3-2, and the most telling thing for me was the face of Slavia midfielder Andrei Chukley. He stood shaking his head, his arms outstretched in a "what the fuck" gesture at his shame-faced team-mates. An overlapping series of calamities and incompetencies had given the dangerous forward all the time he needed.
All Isloch's final goal was missing was the accompaniment of the Laurel and Hardy theme tune. Isloch put together a surging manoeuvre down their right, stringing together four or five passes at pace before the ball was switched to Makas at the right side of the pnealty area. The forward hit in a dangerous lofted cross to the far post which Gleb Shevcenko has to rise and clear. Weighed down by his dreadlocks, the talisman failed to get anywhere near the ball; an Isloch forward met it in the air like a wrecking ball, knocking Shevcenko flat and nearly knocking over the startled Baranovski, who parried desperately. Again Yanush was unmarked and unchallenged; again Tymonyuk was too slow, and too far away- about four yards away as Yanush gleefully brought order to chaos, lashing his second into the roof of the net. It was a lovely move from Isloch but generously assisted by the open-handedness of Slavia's rearguard.
Heads coach Mikhail Martsinovich has a real problem now on his hands. Slavia, in eleventh, are six points behind Rukh Brest in tenth, and are now being dragged into a relegation battle. They have conceded thirty six goals this season, with only Belshina having a worse record at the back. Martsinovich has brought in some new players recently but I suspect his close season priorities will be two reliable centre halves and a regular first choice keeper with most of his career ahead of him. I really enjoy watching Slavia games at the Yunost for their passionate home support and the unpredictable entertainment value that a maverick and unpredictable side brings to the league. But, at present, they are only half a team, and their talented forwards are being let down by repeated failures at the back. The coach needs somehow to make this side into more of a team before the season's end, and try to bring the Mozyr club much more securely into mid-table. If Martsinovich can't do this, and Slavia flirt more with the drop, maybe the owners will ask someone else to try and make more of their investment next term.
5. Brittle BATE choke : Fatally?
Briefly on the game of Sunday- what a match. Those who hoped that BATE's recent two wins might have ended their sticky spell of results were to be sorely disappointed. Torpedo, who have had a really poor record in these central Belarusian derby games, turned around an early two goal deficit to take the derby 3-2 and end Kirill Alshevsky's fortnight of respite from bad headlines.
BATE's goals were well taken but you felt that the Torpedo goalkeeper could have done better on both occasions. The goal of the first half, though, was from skipper Khachaturyan just before half-time. Gabi Ramos, desperately trying to pull his side back into it, jinked at the edge of the area before laying a weighted pass across the face of the area to the captain. He met the ball perfectly, sending an unstoppable right foot drive into the bottom right hand corner of the net. Although behind at half time, this goal hugely lifted the home spirits and laid the platform for their second half comeback.
The catalyst for the win was the introduction of former BATE youth teamer Dmitri Antilevski into the fray. His hard running just before the hour and deft ball set up Ramos for the equaliser, although again you feel that visiting goalkeeper Shcherbitski could have done better- the ball trundling in low at the far post despite the BATE golkeeper getting a full hand on it. Placement of the shot was everything, some may argue. Unbelievably, the home team were in front less than a minute later urged on by a charged, intense atmosphere. This time Antilevski was the scorer, getting in front of his marker and meeting a perfectly judged cross from Vladimir Shcherbo to guide the ball home into the bottom right hand corner. 3-2.
What will have disappointed BATE fans most was the failure of their team to really mount a serious challenge as the game wound down. A motivated and energised home team saw the game out very comfortably and on another day may have won by more. With Neman and Shahktyor already having their three points on the board, this was a really damaging blow to the Borisov side, and seems at present to be a key turning point in the title race.
There was the best atmosphere of the season at Zhodino stadium as a partisan home crowd got right behind Yuri Puntus' side and saw them show a spirit and an appetite for the fray that they have shown too rarely this season. Torpedo have tightened their grip on fourth place and simply need to keep doing better than Dynamo Minsk to stay there. Puntus's target therefore is pretty straightforward for the rest of the season and this result with give his players a huge fillip. Football always throws up these strange scenarios, but a legendary founding manager and a discarded youth team striker coming together to sink their former employers just adds spice to the win.
I don't think it's too controversial now to state that BATE will not win the league this season. Champions don't collapse like this. They will have a different, re-shaped squad next season and- almost certainly- a different coach. They resemble Liverpool in the early nineties when other sides lost of their fear of them, and they stopped winning things. It's a really difficult moment for the Borisov club and it may be some time, on this evidence, before they dominate the Vysheyshaya Liga again.
6. Looking Forward
There's one more round of fixtures to come before the league goes into a (kind of) recess for ten days or so. Next weekend, the games all move forward a day, beginning on Thursday, to accommodate the presidential election on Sunday the 9th.
As well as Neman's visit to Molodechno, I'll be keeping a particular eye on the two games mentioned in the things we learned above, as well as Shahktyor against Dinamo Brest at Stroitel, a very intriguing and likely tough game for the potash barons. After that, the next full weekend fixture card begins on the 21st of August, with the last weekend of the month featuring some very entertaining clashes in the Belarusian cup. It's not yet clear if any of the cup games will be screened live via youtube, so maybe we will have a reminder that weekend then of how footballing life used to be, before the pandemic.
Jon Blackwood
Twitter: @DreadlocksGleb
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