Minsk beat Naftan 3-0 in the Premier League regular season on Saturday. The visitors won 21st round, extending their unbeaten run while Naftan's poor form continued. By then, Minsk had already shown they could be dangerous in the opening stages.
Matar Dieye gave Minsk the lead in the 28th minute. It was a goal that shifted the momentum, and Naftan never quite recovered. To be fair, Minsk had been the more composed side from the start, and that first goal confirmed what they had been building toward.
The yellow cards started coming in the second half. Gleb Zherder went into the book in the 48th minute, followed by Ilya Dubinets and Gregoy Abdul. Things came to a head around that period, with both sides growing impatient. Naftan added Vasiliy Chernyavskiy to the list in the 63rd minute.
And here's the thing about the 68th minute — Ignat Pranovich missed a penalty for Naftan. That was a moment that could have changed everything. Instead, Minsk held their nerve and kept control of the game. The substitution of Matar Dieye in the 67th minute had already signaled that Minsk were managing their lead carefully.
Egor Zubovich scored twice in the closing stages. He found the net in the 80th minute, then added another in the 90th. Minsk camped in the final third after that penalty miss, and Naftan had nothing to do all evening. The substitutions of Konstantin Malitskiy and Aleksandr Ksenofontov came too late to make a difference.
Minsk dominated possession with 55 per cent and registered seven shots on target. Naftan had 45 per cent possession but only four shots on target. It was not a game of chances for the hosts, and the statistics showed exactly where the imbalance lay.
Minsk move up to eighth place with 31 points. Naftan remain 16th on 10 points after 21 games. The gap between them widens, and for Naftan, this result adds to a difficult run that includes four straight defeats before this one.