In the final game of the second round of the Optibet Virsliga at the Janis Dalins Stadium, Valmiera FC, led by Jurgis Kalns, inflicted the first loss on Riga FC this season, showing great determination and fighting spirit.
Already in the first minutes of the game, an uncompromising battle was marked – very quickly the visitors got two yellow cards – the main referee, Andris Treimanis, showed them to Mora Tall and Raivis Andris Jurkovskis. In the 18th minute of the game, Valmiera’s forward Ruan stood out with a good chance against Nils Toms Purins, unfortunately, after his header, the ball hit the crossbar. In the middle of the half, Talla once again got involved in an incident from which he recovered, but his opponent in the duel, Alvis Jaunzems, got up with a bleeding nose and deep confusion about the referee’s decision. A moment later, Ivan Želizko was in a good shot position at the edge of the Riga penalty area – his ball was stopped by Antonijs Cernomordijs’s hand. Still, to his great surprise, there was no violation of the rules here either. The game continued.
The home team started the second half with great inspiration, which also brought the desired result – in the 48th minute of the game, one of the team’s “veterans” (22), Victor Diagne, took the initiative and with a beautiful half-kick drove the ball into the upper corner of the goal guarded by Puriņš. This was his first goal in 39 matches played in a Valmiera shirt since joining at the beginning of 2020.
In the future, Meisa Diop, Jaunzems, Ruan, and also Maksims Tonisevs, who played this game very usefully and productively, in which he was entrusted with the position in the attack for the first time, sent good and even too good opportunities for them to be wasted.
The absence of Carlos Olses, due to an injury, was also very usefully used in this game by Klavs Lauva, who, not for the first time against Riga, demonstrated a convincing performance by guarding the Valmiera goal, and it was thanks to his performance at the end of the game that we got another victory over the ambitious club from the capital – already fifth in last six meetings.
Now the championship will have a longer break related to national team matches. We will start right after Jani celebration – on June 25, when we will face the hosts RFS on the road at LNK Sports Park.