Marked for Andrius Paulauskas
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Paulius Novikovas
27 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.
Match21 Jul 2027
The small margins put Trakai out
Out, 1‑2 to Kauno Zalgiris, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Trakai and Kauno Zalgiris have settled on $650.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market26 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at Trakai, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Stumbras, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Match21 Jul 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dražen Dubačkić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Trakai asked and Utenis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A falling-out at Trakai
Andrius Paulauskas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Paulius Novikovas
35 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.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market19 Jul 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Trakai they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dražen Dubačkić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Trakai asked and Kauno Zalgiris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words exchanged at Trakai
Andrius Paulauskas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout19 Jul 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.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Darius Cernych is on it.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Trakai will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match14 Jun 2027
The season ends: position 7 for Trakai
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 14 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market14 Jun 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Trakai have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad14 Jun 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Trakai have gone to Kauno Zalgiris with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad14 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Modestas Dapkus and Trakai agree another 4 years.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dražen Dubačkić 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.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kauno Zalgiris have kept their man, and Trakai go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Loan watch14 Jun 2027
“I did not go to Liepaja to sit and watch. I want to come back to Trakai and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 21 matches say the rest.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words exchanged at Trakai
Carlos Torres and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Jun 2027
Trakai sink to position 7
13 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match5 Jun 2027
0‑3 to Kauno Zalgiris, 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.
Squad7 Jun 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.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Trakai may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets7 Jun 2027
Everything agreed with Paide, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Jun 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrius Paulauskas and Trakai agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Dražen Dubačkić 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.
Loan watch7 Jun 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Trakai, and 2 appearances in 18 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad7 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
-
Looking ahead
A six-pointer for Trakai
-
The dugout
Modestas Dapkus gets it from the manager
-
Boardroom
Nobody left the Trakai dressing room in a hurry
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dražen Dubačkić 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.
Match29 May 2027
Utenis left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 May 2027
A falling-out at Trakai
Andrius Paulauskas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout31 May 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market31 May 2027
Mathis Gaudin is 20, and Trakai have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad31 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mathis Gaudin and Trakai agree another 3 years.
The dugout31 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aidas Paulauskas, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 May 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristjan Trdin 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.
Match15 May 2027
Zalgiris left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 May 2027
Words exchanged at Trakai
Carlos Torres and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout17 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.
The dugout17 May 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout17 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Dražen Dubačkić's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings17 May 2027
4.68 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Looking ahead17 May 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Atlantas in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tomas Paulauskas
32 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.
Match17 Apr 2027
Nowhere to hide for Trakai
0‑3 against Kauno Zalgiris, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad19 Apr 2027
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Kristjan Trdin 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Trakai
Andrius Paulauskas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout19 Apr 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.
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Paulius Dapkus after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Darius Cernych has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Trakai will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tomas Paulauskas
39 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.
Match12 Apr 2027
Trakai are in real trouble now
Position 7, 4 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Carlos Torres, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76
A mark of 7.76 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kristjan Trdin 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.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match10 Apr 2027
Utenis made Trakai work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Mantas Sernas ran the middle of the pitch — 6.72
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.72, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Trakai
Andrius Paulauskas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
6 new faces, and Trakai are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
Tomas Paulauskas damages knee ligaments — 68 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 68 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kristjan Trdin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“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; Trakai are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Market15 Mar 2027
Ethan Tandu is 17, and Trakai have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Match13 Mar 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Stumbras leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Looking ahead15 Mar 2027
The leaders are next for Trakai
Zalgiris top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Mar 2027
Tomas Paulauskas damages knee ligaments — 75 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
There were 7 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dražen Dubačkić commits to Trakai for another 4 years.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
4 academy graduates step up at Trakai
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Kristjan Trdin 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Suduva left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market8 Mar 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Justas Jankauskas 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
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ignas Novikovas has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Mar 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Edgaras 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
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
Market11 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Trakai have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market11 Jan 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Zalgiris come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Trakai did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Trakai
Tadej Bonaca 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Trakai
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dražen Dubačkić was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market11 Jan 2027
The name of Aidas Sernas has come up in conversations Trakai were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Trakai have made the call to Rapid Bucharest. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Jan 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Zalgiris come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Trakai did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Trakai
Dražen Dubačkić 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Jakub Vlček arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Jakub Vlček has, at Trakai, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. NK Maribor have kept their man, and Trakai go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market4 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Paulius Novikovas again, and this time the name on the line is Atlantas. Trakai are listening politely and promising nothing.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Mura have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market4 Jan 2027
Jakub Vlček is 19, and Trakai have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Trakai will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Trakai
Dražen Dubačkić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Dec 2026
6 new faces, and Trakai are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
18 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Trakai will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Trakai
Tadej Bonaca and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
Tomas Paulauskas damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Tomas Paulauskas
31 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tempers go at Trakai
Dražen Dubačkić 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Linas Kazlauskas and Trakai agree another 3 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Trakai lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Trakai will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Trakai
Tadej Bonaca and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mantas Vaitkunas damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Trakai
Dražen Dubačkić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mantas Vaitkunas
23 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Trakai will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Mantas Vaitkunas damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Trakai will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tadej Bonaca in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trakai this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Dražen Dubačkić 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.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Trakai, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alexandre Vardin trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mantas Vaitkunas
37 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 94 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Trakai can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2026
The small margins put Trakai out
Out, 1‑2 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.
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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
What a way to start for Mantas Lasickas — 7.26
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.26 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dražen Dubačkić gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Dražen Dubačkić has just signed for Trakai, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Trakai
Tomas Novikovas 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
Dražen Dubačkić 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout17 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Trakai know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Utenis come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Trakai did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Arnas Satkus and Trakai agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Trakai
Andrius Paulauskas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Trakai training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tomas 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Stumbras have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Tomas Paulauskas. The answer from Trakai has not changed — yet.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Arnas Satkus asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Trakai have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
Trakai say no — this time
The offer from Smorgon for Aidas Sernas was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Trakai
Andrius Paulauskas and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Trakai asked and Paide said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tomas 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
NK Domzale have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Arnas Satkus knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Arnas Satkus trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.