Sport 0 - 11 lopu (381510509)

7000 punters turned up at Ogre Stadium, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Ian Månsson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Claudiu Nica and Andries Goes. Sport decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Beletskiy - Sokolov, Vaļums, Samovičs, Sarkanis - Detkin, Krievs, Treikleris, Cālītis - Buka, Zažerskis.

lopu tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Rajala - Vergelis, Markvarts, Agiriano - Podsevalov, Charles, Murugov, Zīle, Veckungs - Lattimer, Gorenčič.

lopu tried to focus their attacks down the middle. lopu's I. Vergelis gave the visitors a 0 - 1 lead after 8 minutes with a superb strike from the right. M. Murugov received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 12 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 2. The lopu fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. 21 minutes into the game, lopu's K. Veckungs fired home from an incredible distance! We'll be seeing that on Xmas goal compilation DVDs for years to come! 0 - 3. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave O. Detkin from Sport a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 23 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! After 32 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave A. Markvarts a chance to increase the lead for lopu, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 4. A penalty was awarded after 35 minutes, and A. Markvarts made the most of his chance to put lopu up by another goal. 0 - 5 for the visitors. It was 0 - 5 at the break. Possession in this half belonged to lopu, who controlled the ball 70 percent of the time.

The visitors' M. Murugov took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 52 minutes into the match. 0 - 6 for lopu. Confident in their lead, lopu's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. lopu's R. Lattimer finished emphatically to make the score 0 -7 after 59 minutes, after the enigmatic R. Zīle pulled a delightful long pass from his box of tricks to bypass the defence. Sport's V. Beletskiy had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 64 minutes having been played. G. Dāle was the replacement. After 65 minutes, lopu's R. Lattimer burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 8. The referee signalled a penalty 67 minutes into the game following an offence which looked like it was outside the box. A. Markvarts knocked it home to make the score 0 - 9. By then A. Markvarts had scored three goals - a hat trick! lopu increased their lead after 71 minutes when M. Murugov broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 10, much to the home crowd's dismay. That made three goals for M. Murugov and he was marked down for the hat trick. The home crowd was not impressed when S. Gorenčič came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 72 minutes. lopu were now up 0 - 11. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by lopu, with 72 percent of the ball.

The most dominating Sport player was without a doubt A. Buka. M. Krievs turned in a dismal performance, however. lopu's top performer was clearly S. Gorenčič. However, A. Markvarts made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 0 - 11.