Carnikava 3 - 2 Albions (366454284)

A scorching day at FL Olimpia, where 8008 spectators were in place for today's match. Antonio Pelayo was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Nino Džepina and Quique Cayon Peña. Carnikava decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Glušaks - Gasiņš, Alfons, Leimanis, Eglītis - Ignatenko, Ručs, Bleikšs, Folkmanis - Lēvalds, Bergs.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Albions. Lineup: Volchenko - Ābele, Karavatski, Volkovs, Lasmanis - Siliņš, Čaviņš, Liepiņš, Gusikhin - Ālmanis, Klevin.

Carnikava clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. Several players seemed a little dazed by the warm weather, and were repeatedly tricked by the clever and agile A. Ālmanis. After 16 minutes of play, V. Gasiņš gave the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. The referee showed Carnikava's A. Bergs the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. 40 minutes into the game, Albions seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to solid. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Carnikava to 2 - 0 as I. Lēvalds finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. A. Bergs squirmed through their central defence after 44 minutes, increasing the lead to 3 - 0. Confident in their lead, Carnikava's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. It was 3 - 0 at the break. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Carnikava, with 57 percent of the ball.

The Albions players spent the break getting a rerun of the team's tactical organisation and regained a solid organisation when the game started again. When A. Bergs made yet another studs-first tackle after 80 minutes, the referee was obliged to book the Carnikava player for the second time, sending him off the pitch. After 85 minutes, M. Ābele came close to reducing the score with a free kick aimed near the left post, but P. Glušaks warded the ball off to a corner. The visitors replied 86 minutes into the game, reducing the home side's lead to 3 - 1, as E. Čaviņš dashed up the middle, easily lobbing the ball over the home team's keeper. The visitors' right side was dangerous today; N. Liepiņš made the home team's keeper look foolish as he easily reduced the lead to make it 3 - 2 88 minutes into the match. After 89 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as Albions found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to solid. The heat made it a terrible day for N. Liepiņš, who seemed unable to keep up with the other players. Carnikava claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

The most dominating Carnikava player was without a doubt I. Lēvalds. On the other hand, P. Glušaks's play was disheartening. Most important Albions player was A. Ālmanis. B. Volchenko was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 2.