In today’s A Lyga Matchday 5 matches, troubled FK Riteriai showed character by coming back from a goal down to secure their first league win of the season against Paņevežys. Meanwhile, FA Šiauliai ended their two-game losing streak with a 2:1 victory over Banga, scoring two goals in the second half.
FK Riteriai, whose future remains uncertain as we wrote about it on Saturday, hosted the Paņevežys side. They were one of the two teams in the A Lyga yet to win a match this season and were eager to change that today.
Riteriai manager Nikola Vitorovic made three changes to the starting lineup compared to their last game against Hegelmann. Niclas Hakansson, Deinmantas Rimpa, and Lazar Sajcic returned to the starting eleven. On the other hand, Paņevežys manager Roland Vrabec made one change, giving seasoned player Ernestas Veliulis his first start of the season.
The first half ended scoreless, with Riteriai goalkeeper Innocent making several excellent saves. However, he allowed the first goal of the match in the second half. Justinas Januševskis won an aerial duel during a cross, setting up a wide-open Pavle Radunovic, who scored from close range to give Paņevežys the lead.
In the 67th minute, Riteriai capitalized on a mistake from a Paņevežys defender, with their top goalscorer Meinardas Mikulenas scoring to equalize at 1:1. In the 81st minute, a Paņevežys defender committed an avoidable foul inside the penalty box, leading the referee to award a penalty kick. Nojus Stankevičius converted it comfortably to give Riteriai a late lead.
Paņevežys pushed for an equalizer, but their all-out attack left them vulnerable. In a 3-on-1 counter-attack, Meinardas Mikulenas chose to take the shot himself, scoring again to double Riteriai’s lead and secure their first win of the season, a significant achievement given the team’s situation.
Riteriai will face FK Banga Gargždai in their next league match on Saturday, while FK Paņevežys will host FC Džiugas Telšiai on the same day.
FK Riteriai vs FK Paņevežys – 3:1 (0:0)
Goals: Mikulenas 67′ 90′, Stankevičius 84′ (Penalty kick) | Radunovic 55′
Yellow Card: Stankevičius 58′, Mikulenas 63′, Civilka 90+3′, Galita 90+4′ | Asante 52′, Rasimavičius 88′
RIT: Innocent – Stankevičius, Hakansson, Wawszczyk, Rutkovskis – Fernandez – Rimpa, Kaulinis (Stewart 65′), Mulahalilovic (Šveištrys 65′) – Mikulenas (Civilka 90+1′), Sajcic (Galita 90+1′)
PAN: Černiauskas – Vaicekauskas (Simon 84′), Januševskis, Dante (Krasniqi 69′), Rasimavičius, Dzinga – Kouadio, De Vega, Asante (Steponavičius 76′), Veliulis – Radunovic
In the other match of the day, FK Banga Gargždai took a first-half lead thanks to a goal from Hugo Figueredo. However, Dainis Kazakevičs’s side responded with two goals, an own goal from Banga’s Dovydas Norvilas in the early part of the second half, and then in the 81st minute, Eligijus Jankauskas found the net for the second consecutive game, helping Šiauliai end their losing streak.
Thanks to this victory, Šiauliai moved up to fifth place in the league table. They will host the defending champions, FK Žalgiris, in their next match on Saturday.
FK Banga Gargždai vs FA Šiauliai – 1:2 (1:0)
Goals: Figueredo 25′ | Norvilas 57′ (Own goal), Jankauskas 81′
Yellow Card: Norvilas 7′, Malžinskas 87′ | Mandic 87′
BAN: Bertašius – Zebrauskas (Srebalius 90+1′), Malžinskas, Simao, Figueredo – Olugbogi, Ramanauskas, Norvilas (Victory 87′), Magušauskas (Filipavičius 69′) – El Harmazi (Andrejev 69′), Venckus
ŠIA: Baliutavičius – Mandic, Dapkus, Gašpuitis, Jarašius – Jankauskas, Šimkus, Silva, Micevičius (Dovydaitis 57′) – Djokic, Romanovskij (Komissarov 82′)
| # | Club | GP | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Hegelmann FC | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 15 |
| 2 | FK Sūduva | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 13 |
| 3 | FA Šiauliai | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 10 |
| 4 | Kauno Žalgiris | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
| 5 | FK Žalgiris | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| 6 | FC Džiugas Telšiai | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 |
| 7 | FK Riteriai | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 8 | FK Banga Gargždai | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -2 | 5 |
| 9 | FK Panevėžys | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -4 | 4 |
| 10 | DFK Dainava Alytus | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | -7 | 1 |