Olimpija 3 - 2 Cesis (381569369)

7000 spectators arrived at Aluksne Stadion, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Jonas Börjesson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Christian Oswald and Göpf Russer. Olimpija started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. Lineup: Laucinieks - Alexeev, Zalktis, Sus, Kajaks - Gaigaliņš, Ulitkin, Strizhov, Upmans - Vinnikov, Strugała.

Cesis tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. Starters: Lapskalns - Nużyński, Namdaris, Kolesnikov, Jirgens - Tikhonov, Pimenov, Fabriciuss, Volframs - Breģis, Rumin.

V. Tikhonov had a good try after 20 minutes, coming in on a fine move from the left, but the ball went wide. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave I. Ulitkin from Olimpija a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 32 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Olimpija's R. Gaigaliņš startled J. Strugała with an unexpected pass. Unfortunately, the receiver was too stunned by the play to convert the perfect setup into a goal. Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 37 minutes into the match, and L. Rumin wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 0 - 1 for the visitors. 38 minutes into the game, N. Vinnikov had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came P. Belov. The Olimpija equaliser came after 40 minutes when A. Alexeev floated in a free kick making the score 1 - 1. 1 - 1 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to Cesis, who controlled the ball 51 percent of the time.

P. Belov's lightning pace was too much for V. Kolesnikov who could only look on as the Olimpija player blasted one home. 2 - 1. Having been awarded a free kick in an awkward position after 53 minutes, Cesis did not go for a shot but instead fired the ball hard into the 6 yard box. After a brief tussle with his marker, A. Breģis was able to power the ball past the keeper to make the score 2 - 2. They were singing the praises of A. Alexeev 54 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 3 - 2 to Olimpija. R. Gaigaliņš should probably have put his team up another goal after 60 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by A. Lapskalns kept the visitors in the game. G. Kajaks unleashed a swerving effort from the right that the visitors' keeper did well to tip wide. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Olimpija, with 51 percent of the ball.

Most important Olimpija player was P. Belov. Z. Laucinieks turned in a dismal performance, however. Cesis's top performer was clearly V. Tikhonov. On the other hand, G. Namdaris's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 2.