Marked for Darius Cernych
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 May 2028
“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.
Squad22 May 2028
Darius Kazlauskas 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Stumbras will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Roland Paku 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.
Squad22 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rokas Lekiatas, and the manager let it.
Match20 May 2028
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
Uneasy
The terraces15 May 2028
Anger at Stumbras spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Player ratings15 May 2028
No sign of nerves from Rokas Vaitkunas at 19 — 7.67
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rokas Vaitkunas did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad15 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
“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.
Squad15 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Darius Cernych commits to Stumbras for another 3 years.
Squad15 May 2028
Andrius Novikovas 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
Uneasy
Squad1 May 2028
Vikintas Novikovas damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Match1 May 2028
Stumbras sink to position 6
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market1 May 2028
“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.
Squad1 May 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Stumbras are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stumbras this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Roland Paku 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.
Match29 Apr 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Deividas Girdvainis. 2‑1 against Trakai, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces1 May 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Darius Kazlauskas has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Marked 7.67. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Apr 2028
Vikintas Novikovas damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 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.
Market24 Apr 2028
“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 Stumbras, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match22 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Stumbras's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Stumbras has to find a result from somewhere.
Match22 Apr 2028
Stumbras cannot find the net
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Rokas Lekiatas 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roland Paku, and the manager let it.
Match22 Apr 2028
0‑1 to Zalgiris, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrius Novikovas 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
Squad17 Aug 2026
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Arnas Mikoliunas obliged against Suduva. 1‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Stumbras.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Roland Paku 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Stumbras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Darius Kazlauskas 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Fiodor Barauskas and Stumbras agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market17 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Fiodor Dubickas has his answer from Stumbras; what he does with it is the next window’s story.