Taurenē 5 - 4 Neatnāca (392658353)

15030 fans braved the pouring rain at Gaujas stadions. Guadalupe Noyola was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Madis Tulveitis and Jasper Rosowski. Taurenē had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Eliyav - Kalista, Chaput, Rohwedder - Rochowiak, Hanemaaijer, Nezir, Oprescu, Cino - Baklāns, Erdmanis.

Neatnāca decided to use a 4-5-1 set up. The following players took the field: Tvedsborg - Kreklis, Obukhov, Geerlings, Andersons - Langås, Toti, Delcour, Naumovs, Donadeo - Daukšts.

Neatnāca were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. 24 minutes into the match and the home team took a 1 - 0 lead after breaking through on the left. The scorer for Taurenē was J. Chaput. The visitors' G. Donadeo was alert after a cross coming in from the left, levelling the score at 1 - 1 after 34 minutes. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to T. Baklāns, but the Taurenē player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 2 - 1! The home team will be cursing A. Naumovs for weeks; he finished off a great pass from the left, knocking it past the keeper without a problem. The match was level at 2 - 2 after 38 minutes. The teams went for the halftime break at 2 - 2. Neatnāca had most of the ball, with 57 percent of possession.

After 54 minutes, the Neatnāca coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving A. Daukšts off the field. J. Villalba took his place. G. Donadeo was having a great game - if anything the pouring rain seemed to be spurring him on! K. Langås had a good opportunity to give Neatnāca the lead as he charged down the right and struck the ball towards the top corner, but the home team's goalkeeper made the save. After 71 minutes, Neatnāca's A. Naumovs made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 2 - 3. Some fine movement on the left led to a Neatnāca goal after 73 minutes, making it 2 - 4. G. Obukhov was noted down as the scorer. Taurenē's fans were urging them forward as they tried to get back into the game, and their vocal support was rewarded 78 minutes into the match as M. Erdmanis ran onto a beautiful ball played through the visitors' defence and slotted it past the keeper to reduce the deficit. 3 - 4. Under heavy pressure after 79 minutes, the inexperienced Neatnāca struggled to maintain their level of play. After 80 minutes, M. Erdmanis made a dash down the middle past the away team's defenders to score the goal that made it 4 - 4. With 82 minutes played, the home side managed to get a 5 - 4 lead as J. Chaput flipped the ball in after a cross from the right. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave B. Kalista from Taurenē a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 83 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! J. Delcour's knee will be throbbing for days, but thankfully for Neatnāca, he bravely continued in the match. Possession in this half belonged to Neatnāca, who controlled the ball 51 percent of the time.

T. Nezir performed admirably for Taurenē. B. Kalista turned in a dismal performance, however. Most important Neatnāca player was J. Villalba. However, J. Geerlings made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 5 - 4.