In the match postponed from the 3rd round of the Fastex Premier League, Pyunik hosted the league leader Ararat-Armenia at the Abovyan City Stadium which had stayed undefeated before the match.

Before the start, the teams held a one-minute silence in memory of our prominent compatriot and legendary coach Nikita Simonyan, who had passed away a few days earlier.

The opening minutes of the match were more active for Ararat-Armenia, whose players created several dangerous moments near our team’s goal.

Nevertheless, in the 18th minute Pyunik managed to open the score. The goal-scoring attack started from our penalty area, after which Javi Moreno received the ball on the left wing. Playing a wall with Aleksandar Miljkovic, he broke into the penalty area and scored past Arman Nersesyan — 1-0.

In the 34th minute the visitors could have equalized the score, but after Arayik Eloyan’s shot, the crossbar came to our team’s rescue.

In the second half our players mostly controlled the game and were able to neutralize the opponent’s forwards.

In the 84th minute Pyunik had an excellent chance to send a second ball into Ararat-Armenia’s net, when after a fast counterattack Mikhail Kovalenko sent Matas Vareika one-on-one, but the Lithuanian player shot straight at the goalkeeper.

In added time, after a free-kick taken by Artur Serobyan, Henrikh Avagyan saved our team with a brilliant jump. Pyunik managed to keep the winning score and earned a very important 3 points in a match against a strong opponent.

After this game our team has earned 26 points and shares 3rd–4th places with Urartu, but is behind them based on head-to-head results.

In the next round Pyunik will host Ararat at home, after which the teams will go on winter break, and the championship will resume in the spring of next year.