Torpedo Zhodino opened their account in the new Belarus top flight season in last weekend’s 1-0 win away from home at their season-opener on the road at Shakhtyor which has lifted Friday night’s hosts’ spirits and has also made them one of the early front-runners in the Vysshaya Liga.
That win at Shakhtyor ended a dismal run of 3 defeats on the trot towards the end of last season’s campaign as Zhodino suffered losses to Energetyk-BSU, Dnyapro and BATE, but last week’s win, particularly being away from home, will have given Zhodino a much-needed burst of confidence ahead of this upcoming clash against newcomers, Belshina.
Zhodino suffered just 2 defeats out of their last 10 matches on home turf at their Stadyen Tarpeda at the end of last season and they also registered a 3-1 win away from home at Belshina in their previous meeting, and this could well spur the hosts onto another win on Friday night.
Onto Belshina then, and the visitors made an unsuccessful start to life back in the Belarus top flight as they were dealt a heavy 3-1 loss at home by FC Minsk in last weekend’s season-opener last Sunday lunchtime.
Belshina returned to the Vysshaya Liga following automatic promotion from the 1.Division after winning the second tier league title by a 4-point margin over runners-up Smolevichy, but the visitors were sent crashing back down to earth with last week’s defeat.
Although Belshina brought a promising run of results from their pre-season warm-up matches into the clash, early indications suggest that the visitors could be facing a long and tough campaign in the top flight this season.
It’s been four seasons since Belshina were last competing in the Vysshaya Liga and they’ll need to improve results away from home this time around if they’re to avoid a repeat of their last campaign in the Belarus top flight which ended in relegation.
Belshina have managed just 1 win out of their last 9 away matches in the Belarus top flight which was a 2-0 win on the road at Slavia Mozyr but also suffered 6 defeats within this period, and they could struggle once again here.
As mentioned earlier, Torpedo Zhodino won their last encounter against Belshina 3-1 and Zhodino could well come out on top again on Friday night.