Belarus round-up: Three-way tie at the top

There is now a three-way tie between FC Torpedo Zhodino, FC Gomel and FC Torpedo-SKA Minsk at the top of the Belarussian Premier League table after two rounds of matches last week.

Torpedo Zhodino held
Torpedo Zhodino, the leaders going into the latest bout of action, were held to a 2-2 draw at mid-table FC Belshina Bobruisk, leaving the Torpedo Zhodino coach Yakov Shapiro to reflect: "I can tell only warm words about Belshina who played fervently and cheerfully. We were twice behind and we are generally satisfied with the draw".

Markhel double
Belshina's Eduard Gradoboev broke the deadlock on 42 minutes before Yuri Markhel converted from the penalty spot in the dying seconds of the half to level the scores. The home side regained the initiative at the start of the second period through Aleksei Deniseni, but after sitting back on their lead, Markhel scored a second penalty on 78 minutes to complete the scoring.

Duo victorious
Gomel and Torpedo-SKA took advantage of Torpedo Zhodino's slip and joined them at the summit as both emerged 2-0 victors, against FC Zvezda-VA-BGU Minsk and FC Dinamo Minsk respectively. Genadi Bliznyuk and Yuri Sulimenko were on target for Gomel, while Sergei Kozak and Vitali Mikhalev scored the goals for Torpedo-SKA.

First for Neman
FC Neman Grodno defeated FC Dinamo Brest 1-0 to record their first win of the season, while FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk beat FC Molodechno 2000 3-0. FC Darida Zhdanovichi overcame FC Lokomotiv Minsk 2-0 and FC Naftan Novopolotsk held reigning champions FC BATE Borisov to a 1-1 draw. FC Transmash Mogilev and FC Slavia Mozyr played out the same scoreline.

Four draws
In the second round of matches, Gomel drew 0-0 with Torpedo Zhodino and have now not conceded a goal for seven games. Elsewhere, Neman beat Darida 1-0, Naftan defeated Molodechno-2000 2-0 and Anatoli Baidachni made a successful debut as Dinamo Minsk coach, leading his side to a 4-0 win against Zvezda-VA-BGU. The four remaining games ended in draws, with Torpedo-SKA versus Dnepr-Transmash, Shakhtior against Belshina and Slavia versus Dinamo Brest all ending 1-1, while Lokomotiv against BATE finished 2-2.