In need of a fresh creative spark, Teddy Sheringham turned to the loan market in January 2016 – and found Deimantas Petravičius. At that halfway point of the 2015-6 League Two season, we – and the boss – weren’t finding things easy. After a brief spurt of fortune that brought us three league wins on the spin in late November and early December, it started to go wrong. And, by mid-to-late January, we were looking back on six matches without a win. And that includes a dismal home defeat to a Dagenham & Redbridge side who’d end up comfortably relegated.
So, into the loan market we went. And all we had to show for it would be Petravičius (and Offrande Zanzala). Did it give Tezza Shezza the new buzz he needed? Well, we’re asking if you can remember him. So, draw your own conclusions…
Deimantas Petravičius: Who Is He?
The journo in us should know better than to state something as fact without first checking it. But, come on – we must be on safe enough ground to say that Petravičius became the first-ever Lithuanian to turn out for Boro’. At the time he arrived at the Lamex, he was 20-years-old; a graduate of the National Football Academy of Lithuania in 2011. And he was already making his way through the Lithuanian ranks; capped at U17, U19 and U21 level. A rising star then?
When did he sign and who from?
Nottingham Forest thought enough of the lad to sign him fresh from the National Football Academy of Lithuania in 2011. And, indeed, enough to give him a fair bit of action in their U21s. But not, it seems, highly enough to hand him a first team debut; Petravičius still on the lookout for his first taste of senior football in England. That’s why the deal to bring him here was considered a youth loan. And that’s what happened on 23 January; announced the same day that we took on Barnet at the Lamex.
Did he play often?
He came straight in and made his debut against the Bees; coming off the bench in added-on time at the end of the match. OK – so you’d give the lad the benefit of the doubt. That’s no time to make an impression. And the gaffer felt the same way too. So, next week when we travelled up to York City, Petravičius got picked for his first start. But it didn’t go to plan; the winger hooked at the half time interval as we went onto lose 2-1. The Minstermen, like the Daggers, would also go on to be relegated.
Where is Deimantas Petravičius now?
After two outings in his first two weeks of the one-month loan stay, we never saw him in a matchday squad again. Part of the reason could well be that Sheringham lost his job after that York defeat. Part of it could well be that he wasn’t all that good. If you weren’t there to see either game, however, you’d probably never know. Without much fanfare, he returned to Forest. Not that he’d be sticking around much longer at the City Ground; moving on for good at the end of the season for Zagłębie Lubin in Poland.
We don’t know too much about his time in Poland, except to say that it ended one year on after moving there; Motherwell bringing the winger back to the UK. He played for the ‘Well a good few times too. But it didn’t earn him an extension to his one-year deal. Once more, the time had come to find a new club. Falkirk, it turns out, would be that club. And his time there seemed much more productive; scoring four times during the 2018-9 campaign. He also nabbed his first goal for the Lithuanian national side in the UEFA Nations League.
For whatever reason, however, Falkirk didn’t keep him on. He moved to FC Okzhetpes in Kazakhstan until the end of their 2019 season. And then it was back to Scotland; signing for Queen of the South until the end of the 2019-20 season. It didn’t seem to be going too badly there either; one goal from seven outings is the kind of record we’d have loved in a winger last season. But then, for obvious reasons, things hit a brick wall with the ‘rona. It meant the end of his time with Queen of the South and – as far as we know – leaves him still looking for a club for the 2020-1 season. A position that no ‘baller wants to be in.
DEIMANTAS PETRAVIČIUS – 1 (1) appearances, 0 goals (2016)
