Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 12000 at
SemaforaFKtm Arena today.
Matthias Alexandersson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Ensio Laaksonen and
Lieven Degrève.
SemaforaFK decided to use a 4-4-2 set up.
They fielded: Rajeckis - Ūšelis, Meija, Zaburdaylo, Hauks - Brenčs, Ozoliņš, Siņavskis, Trošiņš - Šmits, Mazur.
BiblioStar had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation.
The following players had been chosen: Sarowski - Ruszó, Dybdahl, Barik - Perrin, Torkveen, Tosarelli, Talus, Vitalis - Del Vecchio, Siliņš.
BiblioStar clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could.
BiblioStar took the lead 17 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle.
S. Dybdahl was the scorer.
After 30 minutes a well-practised indirect free kick routine by BiblioStar was easily anticipated by the defenders. The players forward were so well marked, they were left with few viable options.
S. Torkveen of BiblioStar took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 32 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 0 - 2.
After 36 minutes of game time,
S. Barik had an excellent opportunity to add to the visitors' lead, clipping a volley hooked in from the right, but
M. Rajeckis was in the right place and tipped the ball over for a corner.
The home keeper was stunned 39 minutes into the match when he misjudged the free kick by
N. Vitalis and dived in the wrong direction. The visitors increased the lead to 0 - 3.
With 40 minutes played,
M. Ozoliņš of SemaforaFK fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving.
40 minutes into the game,
A. Siņavskis had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came
A. Baltiņš.
0 - 3 was the halftime score.
BiblioStar claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 79 percent.
A drive down the left side allowed
V. Talus to get in close and score another goal for BiblioStar after 50 minutes, taking the score to 0 - 4.
The players of BiblioStar now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle.
After 67 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave
J. Perrin a chance to increase the lead for BiblioStar, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 5.
Almost all the way down to the corner flag, SemaforaFK's
A. Trošiņš somehow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for
V. Mazur, who struck for 1 - 5.
BiblioStar increased their lead after 74 minutes when
M. Siliņš broke through on the right, upping the score to 1 - 6, much to the home crowd's dismay.
With 78 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed
S. Dybdahl of BiblioStar to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 1 - 7.
M. Ozoliņš remonstrated furiously with the referee after SemaforaFK had another decision go against them. The referee had no alternative but to show him another yellow card and send him from the pitch.
After 80 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for
P. Del Vecchio who increased BiblioStar's lead to 1 - 8.
Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by BiblioStar, with 84 percent of the ball.
SemaforaFK's best player was
M. Brenčs.
M. Rajeckis on the other hand, had a terrible day.
The most dominating BiblioStar player was without a doubt
S. Torkveen.
E. Sarowski turned in a dismal performance, however.
The match ends 1 - 8.