Slim pickings as Smolevichi host Dinamo Minsk

Dinamo Minsk face an away trip to struggling Smolevichy in the Friday afternoon kick-off. Can the home side finally pick up a win or will Dinamo continue their improvement? Have a read of our preview here:

Tough start for newcomers

Last season Smolevichy, based in the Minsk Oblast region of Belarus, finished second in the First League to claim promotion to this season’s Premier League competition. The jump was always likely to be tough and so it has proven for Aleksandr Brazevich’s boys.

With five games gone in the new campaign, the newly promoted outfit are yet to win a single match. It is still early days but already there are questions being raised about Smolevichy’s ability to mix it in the top division.

So far this season they have drawn three and lost two including another stalemate last weekend in the 1-1 draw at Belshina. Goals have been hard to come by and they managed to put the ball in the net only twice so far

Defensively, however, they have looked pretty solid allowing just four strikes in five outings. If they can get their attack going then it is likely they will be able to make a real fist of survival.

In Belshina they looked to be heading for a win when Evgeni Barsukov netted a penalty with 10 minutes to go but another penalty in the last minute of normal time meant the wait for a win would continue.

Dinamo improve with win over Neman Grodno

Dinamo Minsk have had a poor start to the season considering they finished fourth last year, but the win last weekend against Neman was fully deserved.

During the 2-0 win, Sergei Gurenko’s side created eight decent scoring chances compared to their opponents two but it wasn’t all plain sailing.

A well-worked opener resulted in substitute Miha Goropevsek heading in a gorgeous cross from Vladislav Klimovich to finally break the away side’s stubborn resistance. They sealed victory right at the death when Neman had thrown their goalkeeper up for a corner only for Dinamo to break clear, leaving Evgeni Shikavka the simplest of finishes.

The result was only their second victory of a stuttering campaign but a clean-sheet in a professional performance gives them something to build on at Smolevichy on Friday.

Smolevichy - Dinamo Minsk betting tip

With Smolevichy looking good defensively and Dinamo struggling to find consistent form, we are backing this one to finish with under 2.5 goals at odds of 1/2 with Betfair.

Bet Under 2.5 goals on Betfair