The first to miss was Rokas Rasimavičius, who hit the crossbar on the guests’ first attempt, but Vytautas Černiauskas pulled “Panevėžys” back by saving Pape-Alioune Ndiaye’s attempt.
Soon after, “Panevėžys” defender Seydina Keita also missed, but V. Černiauskas – who played fantastically during both the match and the penalty shootout – saved another shot from the opponents.
Unfortunately, “Panevėžys” forward Marko Bačanin failed to outsmart the opposing goalkeeper at this point, and “Tobal” triumphed – 3:2.
During regular time, just like a week ago in Panevėžys, the Aukštaitija team scored first on Thursday in Kostanay – Nauris Petkevičius directed the ball beautifully with a header into the hosts’ goal.
They failed to maintain the lead – just before the end of the first half, Moroccan Amine Talal equalized for the “Tobol” team (45+3 min.).
However, this goal also raised questions – did the “Tobol” player touch the ball with his hand at the crucial moment? Nevertheless, the goal was counted.
In the second half, “Tobol” increased the pressure and tried to score the winning goal, but “Panevėžys” was again saved by 37-year-old V. Černiauskas or inaccurate shots from the Kazakh representatives.
“Panevėžys” also created several dangerous counterattacks.
Understand instantly
Before “Panevėžys” in Europe will stand a Lithuanian football legend: “Had to jump into cold water”
“Panevėžys,” unable to maintain the lead, started their European journey with a draw
Let us remind you that last week in the capital of Aukštaitija, these teams played to a 1:1 draw. Then “Panevėžys” also led, V. Černiauskas showed miracles, and “Tobol,” with a much larger budget and where Lithuanian Gintaras Staučė works as a goalkeepers’ coach, equalized only at the end of the match.
In the third round of the Conference League, “Tobol” will most likely face Belgrade’s “Partizan” (Serbia), who won their first home match against “UNA Strassen” (Luxembourg) 4:0.
“Panevėžys,” as the LFF Cup winner, played directly in the second round of the UEFA Conference League and will receive a 525 thousand euro bonus for this.
