VENTSPILS, Latvia — With just two weeks remaining in the LMT Virslīga, Liepāja Metalurgs look to have won the championship following Ventspils’ 0-2 loss to Skonto on Monday.

This has been an exciting season for the LMT Virslīga with three teams holding a realistic chance of taking the title up to two weeks ago when Skonto began to slip off the pace.

In their last outing Skonto were absolutely trounced 6-1 by Liepāja Metalurgs, suggesting they were not in the same class as the other championship leading teams.

Knowing that they faced Ventspils next up, they knew they could not dwell on their last performance if they were to stand a chance against the other competition front runners. For Ventspils it was a matter of getting over the disappointment of Thursday night’s Europa League loss and refocusing on their domestic form.

As has often been the case though for Ventspils this season, they struggled to back up in domestic action when coming back from tougher games in wider Europe.

The game

Skonto looked the stronger of the two teams from the outset,  with their two Latvian team members causing the damage. First it was Aleksandrs Cauņa in the 31st before Vladimirs Koļesņičenko put the icing on the cake in the 84th minute.

Although Ventspils and Liepāja Metalurgs each still have two games to play, the latter now have a healthy five point advantage at the top of the table. The two teams are due to meet each other on Nov. 1 in what many expected to be the season decider.

However, unless Daugava Riga can produce the biggest upset in the history of the LMT Virslīga a week later by defeatng Liepāja, it looks like the Nov.1 match-up will mean little.