Ararat-Armenia claimed a 2:1 victory over Banants in the second round of the Premier League on Thursday evening. The match, played on 7 August 2026, produced three goals and four yellow cards across ninety minutes. A. Ndour's brace proved decisive, while Benny's late effort for Banants only confirmed what the scoreboard already showed.
And here's the thing about the opening exchanges — Ndour broke the deadlock in the twenty-second minute, just before the hour mark. Banants responded quickly; Rajani levelled in the thirty-first, but the visitors never quite found their rhythm after that. Franca Carlos picked up a yellow card in the thirty-third, a sign of the physicality that would define the encounter.
The middle period saw both managers reach for fresh legs. Banants brought on G. Lulukyan in the sixty-first and P. Ayongo a minute later, while Ararat-Armenia introduced A. Tera for E. Piloyan in the seventy-first. By then, the game had settled into a pattern of cautious possession rather than open attacking.
Ararat-Armenia restored their lead in the eighty-first when Benny, playing under a different name perhaps, found the net. The substitution of A. Ndour in the seventy-fifth must have been a tactical gamble, but it paid off in the end. Banants pushed hard for an equaliser, though M. Velosa's late yellow card in the ninetieth suggested frustration rather than precision.
The result keeps Ararat-Armenia in fourth place with thirteen points from six games. Banants remain seventh on eight points, two wins and two draws leaving them firmly in the middle of the pack. Fourteen points separate the two sides — enough to keep the pressure on both managers for the rounds ahead.