Molodechno-DUSSh secured a convincing 4:1 victory over Shakhtyor Soligorsk in the 21st round of the First League. The hosts controlled the tempo from the first whistle and punished the visitors for every mistake. It was a performance that reflected their position in the table.
And here's the thing about the opening twenty minutes; it was a blur. Ivan Sen struck in the 19th minute, and then again in the 20th. By then, Shakhtyor were already trailing. The visitors looked disjointed from the outset.
Shakhtyor managed to get 1 back through Andrei Alshanik in the 27th minute. They hoped to keep it at that until Konstantin Koval scored in the 65th. But the hosts hit back with 2 late goals from Evgeny Shmarov. He opened the scoring in the 85th minute and added a second in stoppage time.
The managers had to make changes to stop the bleeding. The manager replaced Denis Shulyak with Alexander Kurbachev at half-time, adding to his earlier yellow card. Shakhtyor brought on Konstantin Yankovskiy and Vitaly Belashevich in a bid to tighten things up. To be fair, they created a few chances, but the defence held firm.
The statistics show who really played the game. The hosts took only 3 goal kicks while the visitors had 17. That disparity meant Shakhtyor spent most of the time chasing the ball. The home side won more free kicks, but the visitors edged the throw-ins.
Molodechno-DUSSh remain 5th with 41 points from 23 matches. Shakhtyor are 10th with 29 points after 22 games. The gap between them is widening with every result.