RIGA — Ventspils have failed to qualify for the second round of the Europa Cup, going down 1-0 at home to Hertha BSC Berlin.

The term ‘at home’ is a fickle one with Ventspils rightful home ground in Ventspils deemed to small for UEFA fixtures. Instead, Ventspils have been playing their ‘home’ matches at Skonto Stadium in Riga, which proved a less than happy hunting ground for this campaign, managing just a draw and two losses at the stadium.

In their latest match up, Ventspils had the advantage of coming up against an out of sorts Hertha, but at the same time were slightly disadvantaged of having played little football of late with their domestic responsibilities completed for the season.

This lack of recent game time showed early with Raffael slipping through some sluggish Ventspils defense in just the eleventh minute, giving the guests an early lead.

On a cold Riga night, this early goal was to prove the only real highlight with neither team taking the initiative in trying to make things happen. Raffael was again to be referenced late in the game, incurring a second yellow card with three minutes left, which subsequently led to a red card.

However the red card came too late for Ventspils who were able to make little of having an extra man in the pitch for the final three minutes.

Ventspils will now complete their campaign against Heerenveen in the Netherlands next Wednesday. Heerenveen still have an outside chance of qualifying after securing a point last week against Sporting.

Ventspils will now place all their eggs in one basket with just one shot left for glory this season, when they return to compete in the second round of the Triobet Baltic League next fall.