Vysshaya Liga newcomers, Ruhk Brest, opened their account in last week’s first match of the Belarus top flight campaign with an impressive 1-0 win away from home at Dinamo Minsk which will no doubt give them a timely boost ahead of this upcoming Friday night encounter against Energetyk-BSU at their Stadyen DASK Brestski.
Ruhk Brest finished in 3rd place in last season’s 1.Division which earned them a tilt at top flight football via the promotion/relegation play-off route where they successfully navigated a two-legged affair against Dnyapro, winning on penalties.
The scores were level at 3-3 on aggregate after the two legs but Ruhk Brest won out in the ensuing penalty shoot-out to gain promotion to this season’s Vysshaya Liga, which will be their first ever campaign in the domestic top flight.
Friday night’s hosts finished last season’s 1.Division campaign with just 2 defeats at home throughout the season, and they’ll be needing this solid base from which to build from again in this season’s Vysshaya Liga campaign.
Onto Energetyk-BGU and the visitors finished last season’s Vysshaya Liga campaign in a disappointing 12th place but they managed to record an excellent 3-1 home win over BATE in last weekend’s season-opener at their Stadyen RTsOP-BGU which will also have given them a much-needed boost too.
Energetyk have actually suffered just 2 defeats out of their last 10 matches in all competitions although the bulk of these fixtures have been pre-season friendlies but nevertheless, it’s a good habit to have as they prepare for this upcoming clash at Ruhk Brest on Friday night.
As well as being unbeaten in their last 6 matches overall in the Vysshaya Liga, the visitors have also suffered just 1 defeat out of their last 5 matches on their travels in the Belarus top flight which was a 1-0 loss away from home at Gorodeya, while they also collected wins at Minsk 6-1 and Tarpeda 3-0.
A word of caution though as last season’s leading goalscorer, Ilya Shkurin (19 goals), has since left Energetyk-BGU to join Russian Premier League giants, CSKA Moscow.
This will actually be the first ever meeting between Ruhk Brest and Energetyk-BGU in all competitions, but Energetyk might just prevail here.