Frutti 7 - 2 Valentain (366388308)

Clear skies welcomed the 61973 spectators who had made their way to Tutti Frutti Arena. The derby had been the talk of Rīga all week and fans of both teams could be seen throughout the stadium. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Frutti. Lineup: Mostovoi - Schenkhuizen, Grego, Furmankiewicz - Lombardi, De Vito, Blūms, Bišofs, Dacheux - Bušs, Bublík.

Valentain tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. The following players took the field: Ciemītis - Legarza, Nessgård - Vāgūzis, Monari, Cieślikowski, Gāzējs, Schepens - Nikoskinen, Ezinger, Danneels.

8 minutes into the match, the speedy J. Dacheux easily outpaced J. Nessgård, chipped the keeper and made the score 1 - 0. The visitors almost came back with an equaliser 24 minutes into the match after a good combination down the middle, but when R. Danneels tried to finish the attack, he couldn't deliver the shot hard enough to seriously challenge the keeper. Frutti played a good counterattacking move down the left 25 minutes into the match, with D. De Vito finishing well for 2 - 0. Frutti had to make a substitution after 36 minutes. J. Bišofs limped off the field and was replaced by M. Juárez. A bit later, Valentain's K. Cieślikowski easily reduced the lead to 2 - 1 after a misunderstanding in the home side's central defence. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave J. Bublík from Frutti a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 43 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Frutti increased the lead as M. Juárez struck to make the score 3 - 1 after an attack from the left left him unmarked in front of the keeper. 3 - 1 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Valentain, with 55 percent of the ball.

What was D. Monari thinking? That's what everyone wondered when, for no apparent reason, he shot a cross pass over his own penalty area, giving J. Dacheux an extra chance, but unfortunately for Frutti, he didn't get the shot right. D. De Vito left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 61 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. E. Zilbārdis was the replacement. As the game started to slip away for Valentain, the manager decided to change the tactical approach. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Frutti scored another to make it 4 - 1 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for A. Grego after 65 minutes. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Frutti to 5 - 1 as J. Bublík finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. After this, you could see that the players of Frutti were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. One of many good crosses from J. Dacheux on the wing was received and skillfully taken care of by D. Bušs, who scored for Frutti. 6 - 1 G. Vāgūzis of Valentain seemed to be floating in the air as he elegantly headed in to make the score 6 - 2 after a corner kick that was nicely executed by I. Legarza. Frutti managed to extend their lead to 7 - 2 when E. Zilbārdis cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. Possession in this half belonged to Valentain, who controlled the ball 56 percent of the time.

Most important Frutti player was D. Bušs. T. Schenkhuizen turned in a dismal performance, however. The most dominating Valentain player was without a doubt L. Nikoskinen. J. Nessgård on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 7 - 2.