The 8th round of the Optibet Virsliga season brought game action at the Valmiera Olympic Center stadium. Valmiera FC hosted FS Jelgava in which two different halves allowed the home side to earn a hard-fought victory with a score of 2:0.
Straight away as the opening whistle was blown Ingars Pulis had an amazing opportunity to give Valmiera an advantage on the scoresheet, however, the opportunity was turned away by the goalkeeper.
FS Jelgava didn’t sit back and advanced into the final third creating two scoring chances – in both situations, Carlos Olses stood sharp to ensure that saves were made.
The clock was ticking and the hosts managed to turn the game into an offensive showdown – Alvis Jaunzems went for the goal but was denied, a repeated opportunity was taken and the ball flew into the upper left corner of the goal.
The bells were ringing and Pulis was topping off shots on goal again, while his teammates went into support mode. Two attempts but then Pape Yare Fall decided to send a far pass to the Latvian who instantly was sent alone against the goalkeeper and in that moment it was assured that the ball would end up in goal and the lead would be doubled.
Half-time brought two substitutions – Fall didn’t come out due to an injury while Jurgis Kalns elected to also send out Dusalijevs who sat on the bench awaiting his time to step on the pitch. Unfortunately, the third substitution followed not long after – Ivan Zhelizko had to walk off due to an injury and Maksims Tonisevs took his spot.
The opponent’s coach Ervins Perkons used all of his substitutions within a span of two minutes, which sparked his team to attack more and create danger in the final third. Valmiera on the other hand now had to play defense and rely on the counter-offensive.
Meissa Diop presented himself and nearly scored two goals but on both occasions, the goalkeeper was better. The referee had plenty of work awarding yellow cards to the players of both teams.
Olses and his defensive core played steady, assuring that no balls would go past them which assured celebrations that were loud – 435 spectators and a 2:0 victory.
Now Valmiera FC will head out on a two-game road trip – first up Riga FC at the Mezaparks Sports Village on Sunday, kick-off is set for 17:00.
