In the 26th day of the Armenian Premier League Pyunik was hosted by Ararat.

In comparison with the previous match Pyunik’s acting head coach Yuri Nagaytsev made 4 changes in the starting lineup of our team; Instead of Vitali Stezhko, Denis Talalay, Usman Mohamed as well as disqualified Kristi Marcu from the first minutes of the match Sergei Kolichev, Maksim Zhestokov, Rumyan Hovsepyan and Karlen Mkrtchyan entered the pitch.

The first minutes of the match passed in an active struggle and both teams tried to threaten each other with dangerous attacks.

Pyunik’s Armen Manucharyan and Sergei Shevchuk on the first 10 minutes of the match threatened twice Ararat’s goal with long-range kicks but the hosts’ goalkeeper Petrushchenkov  in both cases easily caught the ball.

And on the 15th minute the ball didn’t appear in Pyunik’s goal by a miracle when as a result of Ararat’s quick counterattack after Andranik Kocharyan’s mighty kick the ball threw back of the horizontal goal post, and Sargis Shahinyan failed to send the ball back to Pyunik’s goal.  

3 minutes later after Pyunik’s excellent attack Sergei Shevchuk passed the ball to Ararat’s penalty area and after Alik Arakelyan’s header Ararat’s goalkeeper rescued his team.

On the 21st minute after a corner Maksim Zhestokov’s short-distance header passed by the goal.

In the first half Pyunik possessed the ball more but there was a little haste in our footballers’ actions during the attacks.

On the 36th minute Alik Arakelyan faced alone Ararat’s goalkeeper but after his shot Petrushchenkov saved the situation.

In the first half both teams failed to find the key to the opponent’s goal and went on break without scored goals.

In the second half the first serious threat was made by our footballers; Karlen Mkrtchyan passed the ball to Rumyan Hovsepyan and after his mighty kick Ararat’s goalkeeper saved his team from a goal due to the goal post.

On the 60th minute Rumyan Hovsepyan again could move ahead Pyunik but this time after his shot Petrushchenkov reacted fantastically and saved Ararat.

It seemed our team’s persistence would end up with success but on the 76th minute something undesirable happened; Maksim Zhestokov broke the rules and the judge showed a penalty mark. Artyom Simonyan’s kick was unmistakable, and Ararat advanced in the score.

The loss of points in the last part of the championship wasn’t in our team’s plans and Pyunik rushed into the struggle with all his strength.

In order to fortify the attacking line Yuri Nagaytsev sent Erik Vardanyan to the pitch and that replacement, as it turned out later, was crucial in this match.

On the 83rd minute Erik Vardanyan building a wall with Rumyan Hovsepyan entered Ararat’s penalty area and passed the ball to the other substitute, Usman Mohamed, and the last one had to do nothing but conquer the unguarded goal, 1-1.

4 minutes before the end of the match Pyunik had a wonderful chance to move ahead the score when after Erik Vardanyan’s pass from the right wing Denis Talalay’s kick who was left out of control didn’t enter the goal by some miracle.

Soon after Armen Manucharyan’s pass from the right wing Karlen Mkrtchyan could stand out, but after  his header Petrushchenkov was again on his place.

And on the last minute our team finally managed to gain a victory in this match; Erik Vardanyan facing alone Petrushchenkov managed to conquer calmly Ararat’s goal and give 3 very important points to his team, 1-2.

During the extra time Ararat had a good opportunity to equalize the score but this time our goalkeeper Andrija Dragoevich acted like a hero with his devoted play helping out team to win.

Pyunik due to successful replacements and his willpower could have a very important victory, 2-1, and stay among the leaders of the championship.