RIGA — Ventspils’ gallant efforts were not enough as they went down 2-1 at home to Sporting Clube de Portugal in Riga on Thursday evening.

The game did not take long too produce some genuine action with Ventspils coming close through Zemperini in the third minute. However when Sporting had a chance just three minutes later their execution was more on song with Miguel Veloso opening the scoring.

Ventspils looked nervous for the first half-hour, in particular goalie Aleksandrs Koļinko whose ball clearance was shaky at best. Sporting continued to press hard following their goal, coming close again in the 13th when Simon Vukčević’s shot collected the right post. Koļinko’s shakiness was almost costly again in the 17th minute when fell leaving the goal open. It was only the desperate line defense of Jean-Paul Ndeki and Alessandro Zamperini that managed to deny Sporting of a second.

Once Ventspils had settled, it was up the right flank that they looked the most dangerous through Jurijs Laizons who consistently fed good ball to his strikers. Unfortunately, his strikers could not finish off the promising moves to find the equalizer.

Into the second half and it was advantage Ventspils who started off how they had finished off  the first as  they continued to force the pressure onto Sporting. In particular Jurijs Žigajevs was reaping the rewards of tight defense at the back, continually pressuring the Sporting defence. The sustained pressure finally told in the 63rd minute when a Ventspils player was pulled down inside the box, allowing Juris Laizāns to step up to the penalty spot. Laizans tricked the keeper into diving right leaving him with an open goal to slot the equaliser.

Ventspils looked content to settle for the draw as they no longer seemed to press forward with the same urgency, something which came back to bite them with time nearly up in the clock. With Ndeki and Samperini having full control over the Sporting stirkers, mid-fielder João Moutinho, took matters into his own hands, successfully shooting from 30 metres out in the 85th minute.

It was enough to completely silence the home fans as desperation began to set in as they began to try and force the equalizer. Late into extra time it looked as though they would have the chance when they were rewarded a penalty from just outside the box. With time running out, even Koļinko moved into the box to provide an extra target for the potential ass from the penalty. Unfortunately it was in vein as the Sporting defense held strong.

It was a gallant effort from the Ventspils side who held dominance for significant periods of play. In the end however, it was a case of not being able to turn the pressure into points. For the time being Ventspils will now slip back to third in their group.