Valmiera FC began their Latvian Cup campaign on the road beating Riga FC in a 1/8 final game with a score of 2:0 whilst playing shorthanded for the better part of the game.
There were no discussions about the importance of the match as two excellent teams were set to battle it out at the Latvian Cup. The game got extremely interesting when during the third minute of the match Valmiera FC goalkeeper Rihards Matrevics received a straight red card and an 11-meter penalty kick was awarded meaning that 18-year-old Klavs Lauva would have to step on the pitch to make the saves that were necessary.
Lauva stepped into the net and turned away Vladen Yurchenko’s penalty attempt. For the rest of the game Riga FC controlled the tempo on the pitch but Valmiera FC were the only ones to score any goals.
In the 16th minute of the game, Alvis Jaunzems used his skill to land a perfect pass for Alioune Ndoye who then followed up with a strong kick sending the ball past the opposing goalie to make a surprising 1:0 after the first half.
In the second half, both teams made substitutions and those also seemed to work better for Valmiera. After the first attempts by the opposing team Raimonds Krollis, Kamilo Mena, and Maksims Tonisevs stepped on the pitch which was then followed by a huge roar by the fans of visiting team.
A corner-kick sent the ball to Kristers Penkevics who without any hesitation assured that the ball would once again go into the opposing net via a header to double the lead and earn a fantastic victory with a ten-men squad – 2:0 the final score.
Our next game will be played on Saturday (16.07) when at the Jana Dalina Stadium we will be hosting BFC Daugavpils. Start of the match – 17:00.
