Torpedo 7 - 0 Grand (379782728)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 1624 to Camp Torpedo. Jaroslav Štefka was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Andrea Paolillo and Kastor Pazik. Torpedo had chosen a strategic 5-4-1 formation. Starters: Korvelis - Šulcs, Gennadiev, Ozoliņš, Tornos, Gunnarsson - Angern, Dosen, Vărzaru, Vaccaro - Vazdiķis.

Grand started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Vilkrists - Kaz'min, Donchenko, Loewenfeld, Buksha - Kryuchkov, Andersons, Kusiński, Pirksts - Goncharov, Tunca.

It was an obvious ambition of Torpedo to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. Torpedo mounted an inspired counterattack down the right wing after 2 minutes, but R. Ozoliņš was unable to convert from short range. Torpedo fans held their breath as A. Dosen scampered down the left side. He successfully avoided all challenges and cracked home the shot for 1 - 0! After 31 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as Torpedo found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to inadequate. The referee showed Torpedo's R. Ozoliņš the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. After 43 minutes a well-practised indirect free kick routine by Torpedo was easily anticipated by the defenders. The players forward were so well marked, they were left with few viable options. 1 - 0 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Torpedo, with 75 percent of the ball.

During the break, Torpedo's coach went through the team's tactics yet again, getting them up to solid organisation. Torpedo made it 2 - 0 as E. Tornos got a touch to the floated corner kick and flicked the ball to R. Šulcs who whipped a low drive in off the far post. G. Vazdiķis could have put Torpedo up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 73 minutes. The score became 3 - 0 at 75 minutes into the game, when Torpedo were given a penalty which P. Gennadiev blasted straight down the middle giving the keeper no chance! The players of Torpedo now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. 87 minutes into the game, Torpedo seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a inadequate level of organisation. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Torpedo scored another to make it 4 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for J. Angern after 88 minutes. Torpedo had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Torpedo to 5 - 0 as R. Ozoliņš finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. Torpedo's D. Vaccaro proved that he's been around on a football pitch before, when he took advantage of a few moments of confusion in the opposition's defensive line and elegantly scored for 6 - 0. Torpedo were given a gift! The ref dubiously awarded them a penalty 89 minutes into the match, which was neatly put away by P. Gennadiev. 7 - 0 for the home side. Torpedo enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 83 percent of possession.

Most important Torpedo player was A. Dosen. K. Korvelis turned in a dismal performance, however. Grand's best player was B. Loewenfeld. On the other hand, D. Pirksts's play was disheartening. The match ends 7 - 0.