Meistiriliiga (Estonia)
All games in the Meistriliiga took place on Sunday, with a number of teams returning from less than pleasing results in the first-leg of the Triobet Baltic League. Having lost 2-0 away to Sūduva in Lithuania, Flora returned to domestic action in devastating fashion scoring ten unanswered goals against a hapless Kuressaare. Particularly disappointing for the visitors was the fact that they let in three goals in the last five minutes. Next up Kalju played hosts to Tallinna Kalev, producing one of the biggest upsets of the season. It looked like business as usual for Kalju early on against the bottom-placed Kalev but something seemed to click for Kalev as they rallied back from a 2-1 half-time deficit to take the match 4-3, with the winner coming in the final minute. In fact, the last three of Kalev’s goals occurred in the final eight minutes. In other games, Maag Tammeka were no match for the visiting Tulevik going down 3-0; Sillamäe Kalev remained in second spot with a 1-0 away win over Paide, whilst table-toppers Levadia managed to defeat arch rivals Flora for the fourth time this season, playing with ten men for most of the game.
LMT Virslīga (Latvia)
A busy week in the Virslīga has made things extremely interesting coming into the final games of the season. The three top teams (Liepājas Metalurgs, Ventspils and Skonto) have now all played 26 times, each producing 20 wins. However having managed one less draw than the other two teams, Skonto is sitting one point adrift of the table-toppers. The race may be decided by goals for and against, which in itself is a tantalising tussle with Liepājas Metalurgs’ record sitting at 71 goals for and 17 against, whilst Ventspils have produced 73 with 17 against. If Skonto can manage to pick up an extra point somewhere then their goals for and against record is favorable, with an 80 for, 21 against record.
Ventspils appeared twice during the week, meeting Tranzits for a 1-0 away win on Wednesday before defeating Blazma 2-0 away on Saturday. Tranzits fortunes did not improve on Saturday when they travelled to Liepāja to experience a 4-0 loss. Skonto managed to keep in the championship race by means of producing a 3-2 home victory, with the telling goal coming with four minutes left to play. In the final game of the week, Daugava Riga were no match for guests, Olimps who easily dealt to the bottom placed team with a 5-0 win.
A-Lyga (Lithuania)
Just like in Estonia, all action in the A-Lyga was saved for Sunday. Ekranas were in devastating form at home, dealing to Banga 5-1. Most of the action took place in the first half with five of the six goals coming before the half-time oranges. With Vėtra only managing a draw away to Tauras, the gap at the top of the table has been closed to one point. Vėtra however, do have the advantage of having produced one more win from their 23 games apiece. In other action LKKA scored a comfortable 2-1 home win over Kruoja, with Kruoja’s only goal coming deep into added time, whilst Sūduva and Šiauliai remained in third and fourth spots respectively following a 1-1 draw in Šiauliai.
