Alūksnes 0 - 6 Duvzare (381520677)

12000 spectators arrived at Alūksnes "Air Carlos Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Ney Belletti was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jan Eilertsen and Jesús Hernández-Maureta. Alūksnes tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. They fielded: Vīksniņš - Chesnakov, Gryaznov, Saveliev, Dāvidsons - Mončevskis, Bondiks, Miadzvedzjau, Belovs - Dudin, Sgibnev.

Duvzare had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. The following players had been chosen: Quirch - Cid, Jugović, Nobleza, Espolla - Höksten, Linkolehto, Saveas, Msekni, Ochmann - Vahlberg.

It seemed as though Duvzare considered the game won before even taking the field, which resulted in a very uninspired start to the game. A. Linkolehto came close to putting the visiting team one up 7 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but O. Vīksniņš managed to tip the ball to a corner. The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when D. Jugović was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 12 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! Duvzare's D. Saveas was shown a yellow card after 31 minutes for slicing down an opponent. Alūksnes were forced into a substitution as R. Dudin couldn't continue due to some rough treatment, forcing M. Savinov to come in off the bench. Some quick footwork on the left side of the field 33 minutes into the match left Duvzare's J. Vahlberg completely free to score. 0 - 1 for the visitors. A well placed corner kick from J. Vahlberg was followed by V. Höksten's hard but accurate header. The well executed routine resulted in a goal for Duvzare, the score now 0 - 2. D. Msekni could have put his team up another goal 35 minutes into the game, after a rush down the left, but his closing shot hit the post. After 38 minutes Alūksnes's M. Savinov contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. 0 - 2 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to Duvzare, who controlled the ball 81 percent of the time.

After 55 minutes, Duvzare's M. Ochmann burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 3. After 60 minutes, Duvzare raised their score by one when V. Höksten's dangerous low cross was cleverly tucked in at the near post by J. Vahlberg. 0 - 4. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Duvzare lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. With the scoreboard showing that 65 minutes had been played, Duvzare nearly put themselves up another goal after V. Höksten came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. The home crowd was not impressed when J. Vahlberg came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 66 minutes. Duvzare were now up 0 - 5. By then J. Vahlberg had scored three goals - a hat trick! The home crowd cheered when, after 67 minutes, C. Nobleza's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. With 83 minutes played, Duvzare put themselves up 0 - 6 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was J. Vahlberg. Duvzare claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 85 percent.

Most important Alūksnes player was V. Bondiks. O. Vīksniņš was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Duvzare player was without a doubt J. Vahlberg. M. Ochmann turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 0 - 6.