Belarus: Dinamo delight on final day

FC Dinamo Minsk snatched the runners-up spot from FC BATE Borisov to bring the Belarussian first division season to a thrilling close on Wednesday.

UEFA Cup place
With FC Belshina Bobruisk already crowned champions, the next two teams met in a final day decider to see who could claim second place and with it a prized UEFA Cup place for next season. It was Dinamo who won out claiming a 2-0 home victory after BATE knew a draw would see them hang on to the runners-up position.

Kachuro double
Dinamo took the lead with just seven minutes on the clock when Vitali Volodenkov's cross from the left found Petr Kachuro lurking in the box and the frontman made no mistake from six yards out. The lead was then doubled just before the half-hour mark when Kachuro headed home another Volodenkov cross.

Nikiforenko brace
FC Neman-Belcard Grodno failed to get the victory that would have taken them into third place as they were beaten 4-1 by Shakhtior Soligorsk. Two goals from Sergei Nikiforenko and a third by Sukhrob Khamidov ended the game as a contest before Neman pulled a goal back through Sergei Davydov. But Anatoli Tikhonchik completed the scoring five minutes from time to end the campaign on a high for his side.

Belshina held
Belshina, the newly-crowned champions went down 3-2 after a hard-fought battle at mid-table FC Gomel to end their victorious campaign just two points clear. Leading thanks to Sergei Vekhtev's fifth-minute opener, they were pegged back when Viktor Borel equalised with a goal in the 53rd minute before Vekhtev grabbed the equaliser for the champions three minutes after the hour mark. But a 71st-minute penalty by Borel ensured all three points went to the home side.

Respectable finish
Basement boys FC Vedrich-97 Rechitsa finished the season in familiar style, with a 6-3 defeat at FC Slavia Mozyr. After 53 minutes, they were 5-0 down but managed to battle back impressively to give the scoreline some respectability. Torpedo-MAZ Minsk helped themselves to a 3-1 victory at FC Dinamo Brest, Eguidius Yushka, Evgen Linev and Aleksei Kopylchenko netting their goals with Vadim Savchuk's 54th-minute effort a mere consolation for the home side.

Same scoreline
In Wednesday's other games, FC Molodechno-2000 defeated FC Dnepr-Transmash Mogilev 2-1 while FC Naftan-Devon Novopolotsk recorded the same scoreline to defeat Lokomotiv-96 Vitebsk.