FC Merivälja – JKL Tiigrid

Last match in qualifying group against JKL Tigriid was exactly as expected – both teams were very disciplined and didn’t allow many chances to opponents.

Tiigrid took an early lead already in 4th minute after very precise shot from Kangro from right side. Although they had initiative throughout the match they played very compact defense, leaving almost no space unmarked. On the other side also FC Merivälja stayed disciplined throughout first halftime, which finished with 0:1.

At the beginning of second halftime Tiigrid pulled even more back and were playing for possible counter attacks. This is exactly what happened in 23rd minute, where Mesila intercepted the ball in Tiigrid half and nicely assisted to Säde who scored from quite hard position on the right side in goalkeepers near side.

Match got interested again five minutes before the end when Tiigrid made already 4th foul and Merivälja was awarded with 10-m penalty shot. Selišek took the shot, Oiov saved it back into the field, Ojamaa was following it and hit the crossbar. Ball bounced from crossbar where Leppik was already waiting for deflection and lowered the score. Two minutes before the end Merivälja had the chance to equalize from another 10-m penalty, but Salakka’s shot missed the target. Merivälja tried to play last couple minutes also with flying goalkeeper, but the score remained the same.

We congratulate Tiigrid for today’s win – they were slightly better team, especially they dominated first 10 minutes of the second halftime with good passing and movement. They also deserved to win this group and got promoted to Grandliiga, where we wish them good luck.

As for our team this qualifiers were a pleasant experience. Three points from four matches don’t really reflect our games. All 3 matches we lost were close, and they could have gone either way, especially yesterday’s match vs. Depoo, while we were clearly better then Kavial who took last place in the group.

Match video from 1:09:20