The 23rd round of the Turkmenistan Football Championship among the clubs of the top league concluded with a victory of Turkmenbashi "Shagadam" over "Merv" with a score of 2-1.
The game took place in Turkmenbashi city.
The first half ended with a score of 1-0 in favor of "Merv", with Igor Sekov scoring in the 37th minute. However, the hosts turned the tide of the match and scored two goals against their opponent in the second half. Mekan Ashirov scored from a penalty in the 57th minute, and Guvanch Abilov added another goal in the 78th minute.
With this determined victory over a participant of the AFC Cup 2023, "Shagadam" moved up from last place in the league table. The team from the Caspian shores now has 13 points. The same number of points is held by "Merv", which played a match more but is inferior to "Shagadam" in terms of goal difference.
It is worth noting that this year, "Merv", bronze medalist of last year's Turkmenistan Championship, made a second attempt in 17 years to compete for the second most prestigious Asian club trophy - the AFC Cup. A round before the end of the competition in Group "E", the football club from Mary is in third place with 3 points. The same number of points has Tajik "Ravshan" closing the standings. The Kyrgyz team "Abdysh-Aty" and the Turkmen team "Altyn Asyr" have 13 and 7 points respectively in this group.
In other matches of the 23rd round of the Turkmenistan Football Championship, "Ashgabat" defeated "Kopetdag" with a score of 3-1 in the capital's derby thanks to a hat-trick by Khojanazar Gurbanov, "Ahal" beat "Energetik" from Mary with the same score at home, and "Arkadag" defeated the AFC Cup 2018 finalist "Altyn Asyr" 4-0 and became the champion of Turkmenistan ahead of schedule.
"Altyn Asyr" has 44 points with one game to spare and is likely to secure the vice-championship for the second year in a row. The teams competing for the bronze medals are: "Nebitchi" with 34 points after 20 matches, "Ashgabat" with 30 points after 22 games, and "Ahal" with 26 points after 18 matches.
