The 9th round of the Turkmenistan Football Championship turned out to be rich in the derby, which started with three matches in Mary, Ashgabat and Turkmenbashi.
In the Mary derby, which took place at the local stadium “Sport Toplumy”, “Merv” and “Energetik” sorted out the relationship? The match of the first round between these teams, thanks to the double of Alibek Abdurakhmanov, ended with a strong-willed victory for Merv - 2:1.
Alibek Abdurakhmanov also showed off his performance in the second leg, becoming the author of the winning goal for Merv in the 89th minute - 1:0. It should be added that by this time Energetik was already playing in the minority after Ashir Dzhumadurdyev was sent off in the 75th minute.
In the capital's derby at the Kopetdag stadium, the football club of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Turkmenistan hosted Ashgabat. Recently, these teams met each other in the first quarterfinal match of the Cup of Turkmenistan. And then success was on the side of Kopetdag - 3:2.
It is noteworthy that the match of the first round of the national championship also ended in a strong-willed victory for Tofik Shukurov's wards - 2:1. Then both goals from the winners were scored by Begench Akmamedov. He also scored a brace (52nd and 78th minutes) in the second leg as well, bringing Kopetdag a 2-0 victory.
After this game, Begench Akmamedov topped the list of scorers with 10 goals, 1 goal ahead of Ahal striker Didar Durdyev.
In the Balkan derby in the city of Turkmenbashi, the local "Shagadam" and the Balkanabat "Nebitchi" met. In the first round match in Balkanabat, Shagadam celebrated the victory - 1:0. Primorye also enjoyed success in the return game - 6:1. The winners scored: Kerim Khodjaberdyev (6th minute), Mekan Ashirov (23rd), Bayramgeldy Nurlyev (33rd - from the penalty spot), Ikhlas Magtymov (36th), Akmamed Metdaev (62nd - from the penalty spot) and Roman Galkin (67th). Khemra Guliyev scored a prestige goal for the losers in the 75th minute from the penalty spot.
Having won over their rivals, "Merv" (16 points), "Kopetdag" (15 points) and "Shagadam" (14 points) approached the leaders in the fight for the championship "Akhalu" and "Altyn Asyru", which have respectively 22 and 18 points with one game in hand.
The 9th round of the national championship will end with another derby of the two best teams in the country - Akhala and Altyn Asyr. Recall that in the first round, these teams played each other in a draw - 1:1.
