VELNI 2 - 4 Geistingen (363097234)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 2108 had shown up at FK Velnciems Arena for the match. Juan Carlos Bareyre was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Olav Hagen and Jef Clause. VELNI had chosen a strategic 4-3-3 formation. Starters: Tomsons - Khayretdinov, Matisons, Muhammed, Svece - Baiža, Egle, Kalniņš - Cintiņš, Klismets, Barlyaev.

A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Geistingen. The following players had been chosen: Kablar - Pollner, Miglietta, Suhard, Rietveld - Bibra, Buciuta, Marunić, Kuncze, Narcone - Eikel.

The guests took the lead 4 minutes into the match, after a right-side attack resulted in L. Bibra scoring to make it 0 - 1. Had it not been for one of the home defenders, V. Buciuta would have put Geistingen up another goal 8 minutes into the match with his audacious lob from the right wing. With 9 minutes played, VELNI's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to S. Klismets he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 1 - 1. Geistingen's E. Eikel managed to lose the defenders as he advanced down the right wing and scored, putting the visitors ahead after 21 minutes. 1 - 2. 1 - 2 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Geistingen, with 71 percent of the ball.

After 50 minutes, S. Klismets got through on the right and was very close to equalising for the home side, but didn't get the shot away. The home crowd cheered when, after 52 minutes, E. Eikel's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. V. Marunić increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 1 - 3. VELNI were awarded a penalty 74 minutes into the match and P. Muhammed fired the ball into the net to make the score 2 - 3. The home keeper was stunned 81 minutes into the match when he misjudged the free kick by E. Eikel and dived in the wrong direction. The visitors increased the lead to 2 - 4. By now, the players in Geistingen felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. Possession in this half belonged to Geistingen, who controlled the ball 74 percent of the time.

Most important VELNI player was P. Muhammed. On the other hand, P. Tomsons's play was disheartening. Geistingen's best player was E. Eikel. M. Rietveld turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 4.