Torpedo Kutaisi edge Saburtalo in eight-goal thriller
Torpedo Kutaisi saw off Saburtalo 4-3 in the twenty-first round of the Erovnuli Liga on Friday evening. The match, played at the home ground in Kutaisi, produced six first-half goals before a red card shifted the balance. By then, the visitors had already taken the lead twice through V. Mamuchashvili, who struck in consecutive minutes.
The opening exchanges were frantic. Felipe Pires gave Torpedo the advantage in the sixth minute, and D. Bukia levelled seven minutes later. G. Kutsia restored the lead just before the quarter-hour mark, and here's the thing: Saburtalo responded with real urgency. Mamuchashvili's double in the thirty-ninth and fortieth minutes left the hosts chasing, and the momentum had swung firmly away from Kutaisi.
The turning point came in the fifty-sixth minute when N. Bochorishvili was sent off for Saburtalo. With a man advantage, Torpedo began to press. The substitution of G. Kutsia in the fifty-eighth minute added fresh legs to the attack, and within seven minutes A. Dzagania found the net to make it three-all. To be fair, the visitors could have weathered the storm, but they lacked their full complement.
Saburtalo pulled one back through N. Sikharulashvili in the seventy-sixth minute, but Torpedo had already committed to the attack. Deisadze struck in the eighty-third and eighty-fourth minutes, a brace that put the result beyond doubt. The visitors threw everything at it in the closing stages, but the home side held firm despite the yellow card that fell to Deisadze himself.
The result leaves Torpedo Kutaisi on 32 points from 24 games in sixth place, while Saburtalo remain fourth with 37 points from 22 matches. The hosts have shown inconsistency of late, losing three of their last five, but this performance suggested a side that knew how to take its chances. Saburtalo's away form has been solid, though the red card proved costly.
What stood out was not the statistics but the moments. Three or four decisive episodes settled the match, and the rest was noise. Torpedo's manager will have seen enough to build on, while Saburtalo will reflect on a game they dominated but could not close out.