After a longer break, the race for the gold in the Optibet futbola Virsliga tournament has been resumed. Tamaz Pertia’s coached team in front of its spectators hosted this moment’s championship leaders RFS. By showing a very meaningful and convincing performance, Valmiera FC reached a draw in this game (1:1).
In the opening of the game more than on time, the hosts wasted their chances – in one episode after Ivan Zhelizko’s performed corner kick and Raimonds Krollis’s head strike, miraculously the ball did not fly into the net – bouncing back of the goal post.
RFS, on the other hand, was able to execute one of their rare opportunities in the first half – in the 42nd minute, the rules against Arturs Zjuzins were violated by Viktor Aleksandrov, while the awarded penalty kick was coolly performed by the Austrian player Kevin Friesenbichler – 0:1.
In the second half, Valmiera’s superiority was increasing, but there was no luck at the end of the attacks until the 62nd minute when the efficient Senegalian attackers Djibril Gueye and Alioune Ndoye came on the pitch. It took us four minutes for an equalizer. Zhelizko – Krollis link worked again after a corner kick was taken, only this time Krollis passed to the far post to Gueye, who addressed the ball with his head into the net from a close distance – 1:1.
It was close to grabbing a win in this game – the best opportunity was ruled out by the game’s referee, whose whistle keep silenced after the obvious infringement against Ndoye in the RFS penalty area.
We have six more games left in the championship (48 points) while our direct opponents in the battle for gold medals – RFS (50) and Riga FC (44) both has eight games left.
The next fight is scheduled for September 19 (15:00), when we will meet with FK Liepāja on away game in the semi-finals of the Latvian Cup.
