As the Tonybet Virslīga enters its final stretch and the last, fourth round begins, Valmiera FC hosted FC RFS at Jānis Daliņš Stadium. In a match packed with action, as is always the case when these two teams meet, Valmiera suffered a rare home defeat, acknowledging a 1-2 loss to their rivals.
The lineup selected by Valmiera’s coaching staff, led by head coach Gatis Kalniņš, was somewhat unusual, with several of the team’s key players starting on the bench and only coming on in the second half. However, from the outset, the starting eleven left no doubts—they were fully mobilized, ready to fight and run as if their lives depended on it.
Unfortunately, things took a wrong turn in the 12th minute when home defender Kristers Aļekseičiks committed a handball in the box, resulting in a penalty that Jānis Ikaunieks calmly converted. This slightly dampened the good intentions of Kalniņš’s men. The first half saw a fast and dynamic game from both sides, with uncompromising battles at times, as evidenced by the total of five yellow cards shown.
Just before halftime, disaster struck again when Kristers Penkevics fouled the earlier goalscorer in the penalty area—an undeniable penalty. Ikaunieks converted it again, scoring his second goal, and his team went into the break in high spirits.
The second half began with continued pressure from Valmiera on the RFS goal. In the 57th minute, that pressure finally paid off—Emīls Birka delivered a brilliant cross from the left flank, which was met just as brilliantly by Jason Bahamboula, who slotted it home. This was Birka’s 12th assist of the season, equaling Lūkass Vapne’s tally.
With the introduction of the team’s key players—Korobenko, Vapne, Porsan-Clemente, and Ndoye—the chase continued, with regular forays towards the RFS goal. While there was plenty of passing, there were few genuine goal-scoring threats on the night. It wasn’t until the very end of the match that a moment came which could have changed the outcome—Renārs Varslavāns was clearly fouled while dribbling in the penalty area, but the referee’s whistle mysteriously remained silent, causing an uproar. As the play continued, Porsan-Clemente found Ndoye unmarked in front of the goal, but, surprisingly, he missed the ball in a situation where he would score nine times out of ten.
The defeat was painful, but it gave the team’s less regular players a chance to prove themselves, and they showed that such matches accelerate their development at lightning speed—this was exactly what Kalniņš emphasized in the post-match press conference, defending his decision regarding the lineup.
Next up, on Thursday, is another big match—on September 19th at 7:00 PM, we travel to Riga to face Riga FC at Skonto Stadium.
