Marked for Edgaras Dubickas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgaras Dubickas
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match29 May 2027
No end in sight to Trakai's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Trakai has to find a result from somewhere.
Match31 May 2027
Every point is an argument now for Trakai
Position 7 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad31 May 2027
A fracture rules Fiodor Dapkus out for 83 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad31 May 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match29 May 2027
Kauno Zalgiris left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 May 2027
Edgaras Dubickas damages knee ligaments — 27 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match22 May 2027
The wait goes on for Trakai
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad24 May 2027
Fiodor Dapkus breaks a bone — 91 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 May 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 May 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad24 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Trakai may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
Edgaras Dubickas damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad17 May 2027
Fiodor Dapkus breaks a bone — 98 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match15 May 2027
The wait goes on for Trakai
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad17 May 2027
Marius Kuklys falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad17 May 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
Edgaras Dubickas damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad10 May 2027
Fiodor Dapkus breaks a bone — 105 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match8 May 2027
The wait goes on for Trakai
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match8 May 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Trakai
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match8 May 2027
Marius Kuklys scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Zalgiris, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vykintas Girdvainis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgaras Dubickas
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad3 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match1 May 2027
0‑7 to Stumbras, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Match3 May 2027
Every point is an argument now for Trakai
Position 7 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad3 May 2027
Fiodor Dapkus breaks a bone — 112 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market3 May 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match1 May 2027
The wait goes on for Trakai
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match1 May 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Trakai and Stumbras, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad3 May 2027
Vykintas Girdvainis falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgaras Dubickas
56 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match24 Apr 2027
Nowhere to hide for Trakai
1‑4 against Suduva, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Fiodor Dapkus breaks a bone — 119 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market26 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match24 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Trakai's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Trakai has to find a result from somewhere.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2027
Edgaras Dubickas damages knee ligaments — 63 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 63 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match17 Apr 2027
Chastening afternoon for Trakai
A 1‑5 beating by Siauliai was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Fiodor Dapkus out for 126 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Trakai's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Trakai has to find a result from somewhere.
Match17 Apr 2027
Marius Kuklys among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Marius Kuklys on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Trakai and Siauliai.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vykintas Girdvainis, and the manager let it.
Boardroom19 Apr 2027
Doors closed at Trakai
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Trakai needed to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgaras Dubickas
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Fiodor Dapkus out for 135 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Trakai will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match10 Apr 2027
A hiding for Trakai
Beaten 0‑3 by Kauno Zalgiris, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 16 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgaras Dubickas
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match31 Mar 2027
The small margins put Trakai out
Out, 2‑5 to Siauliai, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market5 Apr 2027
Marius Kuklys hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match5 Apr 2027
Trakai sink to position 6
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
The terraces5 Apr 2027
Trakai are taken apart by Siauliai — and the town wants answers
It finished 2-5. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Match31 Mar 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Trakai and Siauliai, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marius Kuklys is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgaras Dubickas
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match27 Mar 2027
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Modestas Kuklys decided nobody was going anywhere. Atlantas had no time left to answer.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Karolis Kazlauskas is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match27 Mar 2027
A 2‑1 win over Atlantas, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The plan did not have a place for Edvinas Kuklys
Nobody at Trakai is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Squad29 Mar 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. Trakai were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgaras Dubickas
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match20 Mar 2027
Nowhere to hide for Trakai
0‑5 against Zalgiris, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match20 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Trakai's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Trakai has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marius Kuklys is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match20 Mar 2027
No clean sheets in sight for Trakai
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgaras Dubickas
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match13 Mar 2027
Nowhere to hide for Trakai
1‑5 against Stumbras, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market15 Mar 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match13 Mar 2027
Marius Kuklys among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Marius Kuklys on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Trakai and Stumbras.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Marius Kuklys falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad15 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Arvydas Dapkus
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom15 Mar 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Whether it was the goalkeeper or the ten in front of him is the argument that will fill every conversation in town this week. 5 saves does not settle it either way.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Edgaras Dubickas
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Trakai lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad8 Mar 2027
There were 12 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match6 Mar 2027
1‑6 to Suduva, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market8 Mar 2027
Marius Kuklys hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trakai can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Edvinas Kuklys and Trakai agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match6 Mar 2027
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Trakai and Suduva in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Graduation day at Trakai
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market8 Mar 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Tomas Vaitkunas is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Edvinas Sernas has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Trakai
Justas Vaitkunas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.