The second round of the first division of the Kazakhstan football championship began with confident victories by the favorites, reports infohub.kz.
Karagandy's Shakhter defeated Batyr from Ekibastuz 2-0 away. Goals came from Andrey Ulshin (38th minute) and Rifat Nurmugamet (61st). With this win, Andrey Finonchenko's side temporarily topped the standings, but was soon overtaken by Kairat-Zhastar.
Zhora Arutyunyan's team thrashed their counterparts from Kaspiy-M 6-0. The match featured a brace by Yevgeniy Petrik (49th and 71st minutes), two penalties, two red cards, and an own goal. Other goals came from Zhazmaganbetov (16th, own goal), Makhametzhan (26th, penalty), Toleukhan (76th), and Kalikulov (90+4th, penalty). Kaspiy-M had Tazhikenov (80th) and Zharmukhamet (90+4th) sent off.
In another match, Turan thrashed Arys 4-0. Arman Kenesov scored a brace (2nd and 34th minutes), with additional goals from Duisenbekuly (70th) and Yerkin (90+4th). Tobol-M in Kostanay nearly came back from 0-3 down against Academy Ontustik: the visitors led 3-0 at halftime thanks to goals by Ali (23rd, 25th) and an own goal by Bakitzhanov (43rd). The hosts pulled two goals back through Konyashkin (62nd) and Zhaksylyk (68th) but could not salvage a draw.
Other matches of the round: Astana-M beat Zhaiyk 1-0 (Tokenov goal on 74th minute), Taraz drew with Aktobe-M 1-1 (Usik scored for the visitors on 4th, Taibekov equalized on 85th), and Khan-Tengri lost to Elimai-M 0-1 (Sovetkazy scored the only goal on 37th).
The 15th round of the First League is scheduled for July 23 and 24.