In the 4th round of the Armenian Premier League, Pyunik played away against Ararat at the Republican Stadium named after Vazgen Sargsyan.

As is known, the match of the 3rd round scheduled for August 16 between Pyunik and Sardarapat was postponed due to technical problems at the stadium, leaving our team forced without matches for 12 days.

Compared to the previous match against Van in the championship, two changes were made to Pyunik's starting lineup: Portuguese Filipe Almeida and Artak Dashyan returned to the ranks after recovering from injuries.

The first 45 minutes of the match passed almost without serious scoring chances, and all attempts made by Pyunik mainly bumped against the opponent's solid, two-layered defense. It can be said that the main events of the game took place only after the break.

Our team created the first serious threat near Ararat's goal in the 50th minute, when Viti broke into the penalty area along the right flank and passed to Iman Griffith, who was left unmarked; however, after the latter's strike, the ball miraculously did not end up in the net.

A minute later, following another pass from Viti, Iman Griffith had another chance to shine, but the Dutchman failed to react successfully to the ball.

In the 55th minute, an incident occurred in Ararat's penalty area between Varazdat Haroyan and Iasonas Pikis. After this, the former defender of our team lost his temper, and referee Vardan Vardumyan immediately showed a red card to Haroyan, while simultaneously punishing Ararat with a penalty kick. Pikis himself approached the ball, but Ararat's goalkeeper played brilliantly, deflecting the Cypriot's shot with a soaring dive.

At that moment, a fear arose that the scenario of the last match between the teams in April of this year might repeat—when Pyunik, after creating numerous scoring opportunities alongside Edgar Malakyan's missed penalty, was cruelly punished at the end of the game and deprived of 3 valuable points.

Less and less time remained until the end of the match, but ultimately, the substitutions made by Artak Oseyan, to our team's joy, turned out to be pivotal in this game.

In the 3rd minute of injury time, Gevorg Tarakhchyan seized the ball bounced off Ararat player Moussa Kante. Going one-on-one with the goalkeeper, he calmly hit the opponent's net, and the referee confirmed the scored goal with the help of VAR: 0–1. By the way, Gevorg has scored coming off the bench in each of the first three matches of the championship.

Just before the final whistle, as a result of a quick counterattack launched by our team, Edgar Malakyan passed the ball to Vyacheslav Afyan, who sealed the outcome of the match with a precise strike: 0–2. It is noteworthy that 20-year-old talented player, who is a graduate of our academy, scored his first goal for Pyunik's main team.

After this victory, Pyunik earned 7 points and is currently at the top of the tournament standings.