December 12 & 13, 2020
The Estonian football season concluded over the past weekend with the final Meistriliiga fixture and the second leg of the relegation/promotion play-off.
The Flora vs Levadia final round match was originally scheduled to be played on December 6th but was postponed as both sides were self-isolating after outbreaks of Covid in their camps. The plan to reschedule the match for December 12th had to be shelved following further cases of positive tests of players for both sides, with 9 Flora players reported as being affected. With the result of the fixture having no bearing on the final league places, and with little prospect of it being able to take place before the winter set in for good, the Estonian FA decided to cancel the match.
When these diaries last reviewed the Meistriliiga after week 22 at the end of September, Flora were running away with the title and preparing for continued European action against Dinamo Zagreb. The main interest in the league was the fight for the Europa Conference places and the battle to avoid relegation.
With the late start to the season because of the pandemic it had already been decided to reduce the season from the usual 4 round, 36 game season to 3 rounds for 27 matches and then have play-offs to determine the final placings. In early November it was further decided that the top 4 after 27 rounds would play each other again for a 30 game season, the bottom 4 would do likewise but the sides finishing 5th and 6th would play each other once in a pretty meaningless match for a 28 game season.
Flora lost in Zagreb as expected but Dinamo Zagreb only sealed a 3-1 victory with a goal three minutes from the end. That performance looks even more creditable now in light of Dinamo winning their Europa League group against Feyenoord, CSKA Moscow and Wolfsberger AC and remaining unbeaten.
Upon their return to league action Flora continued their procession to retaining the championship, winning all their remaining matches apart from a 0-0 home draw with Nomme Kalju, which was sufficient to claim the title with 4 matches to spare. Flora won 26 of 29 league matches played, with Tammeka and Nomme both obtaining 0-0 draws in Tallinn, with an early season loss at Viljandi spoiling an otherwise unblemished away record of 15 wins out of 16. They finished the league season on an unbeaten run of 18 games and the final table shows a winning margin of 16 points from a game less played.
Rauno Sappinen won the Golden Boot with 26 goals, 12 goals ahead of his nearest rival, and veteran Konstantin Vassilijev found the target 10 times from midfield. Unsurprisingly, as Flora have a policy of only signing Estonian players, 12 Flora players were in the National squad for the final round of Nations League matches in November, with another one missing through injury.
Paide’s remarkable season resulted in a second place finish, the best ever in the club’s history, and qualification for European football for the second year in a row. A run of 13 wins out in their last 14 regular games put them 7 points clear of third place going into the three Championship fixtures, and a 2-2 draw at Levadia, their only draw of the season, secured second place with two games to go. They finished the season with a 1-7 home loss to Flora ( after taking an early lead with a sublime finish from Sekyere ! )
but rebounded to beat Nomme 7-4 in a breath-taking game. With 80 goals Paide were the highest scorers in the division and a Paide game could usually be expected to be a goal feast one way or the other. Ugandan Edrisa Lubega was the top scorer with 14 goals, with Dutchman Deabeas Owosu Sekyere scored 10 in 13 games after joining the club at the end of August. Henri Anier also found the net 10 times and along with midfielder Edgar Tur was in the recent national squad. Midfielder Andrei Mosnikov had the joint most assists in the league with 14.
With Estonia’s UEFA coefficient ranking falling, only two places are available in the 2021/22 Europa Conference, so a third place finish for Levadia means either they will have to win the 2020/21 Estonian Cup ( which will be concluded next spring ! ), or hope Flora or Paide are the winners, if they are to take the second slot. Failure would bring an end to a run of 16 consecutive year of qualifying for Europe. At the end of September Levadia sat fourth in the table only four points behinds Paide, but a 0-1 defeat in Paide, thanks to a header from Sekyere, opened a gap that would prove to be insurmountable given the tremendous run Paide were on.
Despite winning their next 4 matches, the 2-2 draw at home to Paide consigned Levadia to third. Levadia lost only 2 home matches all season, both to Flora, but only took 4 points in 4 matches from Paide.
Levadia’s away record over the first two blocks of fixtures was an ordinary 3-3-3 with 18 goals conceded, which also included a loss at Nomme and draws at Tammeka, Narva and Kuressaare. Five out of 6 away games were subsequently won though. The early season poor form led to the resignation of Estonian record cap holder Martin Reim as their manager, and the return of Vladimir Vassiljev certainly resulted in an improvement in form, but the damage had already been done. Cameroonian Marcelin Gando scored 11 times to finish 4th in the Golden Boot list, and Ukrainian striker Yuri Kolomoets scored 10 times. No Levadia players were selected for the recent Estonia squad.
For much of the season Nomme Kalju were contenders for a top three finish, and were second in the table after 18 rounds, and third just three points behind Paide at the end of September. However, just one win in their last 8 games, albeit with a draw at Flora, meant an eventual disappointing fourth place, perhaps suffering under the burden of being Fatbear's tip for second place.......
With 9 wins, 4 draws and 37 goals the Pink Panthers had the second best away record in the division. In contrast, 6 defeats were suffered at home and only 15 goals were scored. Alexsander Volkov and Ukrainian Vladyslav Khomutov were both on the scoresheet 8 times. Keeper Marko Meerits was the only Nomme player to earn selection for the November national squad and Russian midfielder Amir Natkho had the joint most assists in the league with 14
Tammeka Tartu and Viljandi Tulevik were both safely in mid-table virtually all season, never really looking in danger of being dragged into a relegation battle nor seriously challenging for a European spot. Viljandi managed twenty games without a draw, but then played 4 draws during a winless last 8 matches. The highlights of their season were probably the 2-1 wins over Flora and at Paide, but they also lost at Kalev and Kuressaare. Midfielder Pavel Marin scored 11 times and was recalled to the national squad in November.
Tammeka won only twice at home all season, but registered 6 wins on their travels and also achieved draws at Flora, Paide and Levadia. A 3-3 draw in the additional one additional game ensure a fifth place finish ahead of Tulevik. With 12 goals Tristan Koskor was third in the scoring charts.
In their first season in the Meistriliiga, Tallinna Legion looked to be in for a struggle to avoid the drop after a slow start to the season and scoring only 9 times in the first 16 matches. However, the arrival of experienced Russian forward Nikita Andreev mid-way through the season solved that problem with 10 goals in 14 games. Former Estonia goalkeeper, 40 year old Pavel Londak missed only one match all season as Legion lost only 3 of their last 11 games to move to the safety of 7th and seven points clear of the relegation play-off position.
It was a topsy-turvey season for Narva Trans. Without a win in the first 8 games, a run of one loss in 8 saw them on the fringes of a top 6 berth before just 2 points in the final 10 regular league season matches left Narva just one point from the play-offs. A crucial 3-0 at Kuressaare in game 28 gave Narva some breathing space
but a final day loss at home to Legion left Narva praying that Kuressaare would fail to win at Kalev. A 1-1 draw in that game saw Narva remain in the Meistriliiga.
Kuressaare had reached no higher than 8th all season and entered the relegation round one point behind Narva in 9th. After the gloom of losing at home to their nearest rival, an unexpected 1-0 at improving Legion put them back in with a chance.
With Narva losing on the final day, a win at already relegated Kalev would have spared Kuressaare the agony of the play-offs. Getting back to 1-1 with 20 minutes left to grab a winner, Kuressaare were unable to score again, despite referee Karolin Kaivoja rightly giving a second yellow and hence a red to Kalev's Hannes Anier for a ridiculous attempt at time wasting.
Tallinna Kalev started with a 1-8 home defeat to Paide but then picked up 7 points from the first 4 matches after the resumption including two wins ( 1-0 vs Legion, 2-0 at Tammeka ). That was about as good as it got though as a run of 2 points in 17 games left Kalev looking certainties for relegation. However, three wins in the final 5 regular league matches ( against Kuressaare, Narva and Viljandi ) brought Kalev to within only 2 points of Kuressaare going into the relegation round. Ultimately, a 1-1 draw at Narva and Kuressaare’s surprise win at Legion on match-day 29 result in automatic relegation with one game still to play. Kalev are replaced by Esiliiga Champions Parnu Vaprus. Hannes Anier scored 10 of the 20 goals Kalev scored.
Relegation/Promotion Play-offs
Thursday 10th, December
Maardu Linnameeskond 3-5 Kuressaare ( att : 148 )
Sunday 14th December
Kuressaare 4-2 Maardu Linnameeskond ( att : 126 )
Maardu, which is located in the Tallinn metropolitan area, had been automatically relegated from the Meistriliiga at the end of the 2019 season and their bid to escape from the Esiliiga at the first attempt had finished one point behind champions Parnu Vaprus. For an immediate return to the top division they would need to overcome a Kuressaare side who had survived via the play-offs in the previous two years and were now looking to make it three in a row.
The first leg was originally due to have been played a week earlier but an outbreak of Covid in the Kuressaare squad forced a postponement. However, the game went ahead a week later but due to a combination of continued Covid cases and injuries, Kuressaare were missing 5 regular starters, handed a first ever start to one player ( Tanel Neubauer ) and had only two substitutes on the bench. One of these was reserve keeper Roland Kutt, and the other, 20 year old forward Sten Penzev who came on in the 91st minute to make his debut. Eight of Kuressaare’s starting line-up had appeared at least 15 times during the season though. The Estonian FA were reportedly to have waived away a yellow card suspension for each side, otherwise Kuressaare’s resources would have been stretched even further……….
With temperatures of minus 5 centigrade the match officials were wearing bobble hats and black stockings to keep warm, and playing on an artificial pitch Kuressaare raced into a 2-0 lead in the first ten minutes with two long range shots. They then missed a sitter a few minutes later. Anyone who turned off thinking the tie was already over would have had a shockif they switched on again after 50 minutes though as Maardu fought back to lead 3-2. Anton Aristov’s 30 yard effort continued the trend of shots from distance deceiving the keepers,
and although the equalizer was a tap-in at the far post, Maardu’s third goal was another screamer, this time Zelentsov’s right footed shot from close to the left hand corner sailed into the far corner. Defending seemed to be an optional extra and both sides looked like scoring with every attack. Fortunately for Kuressaare they found the net three more times to win a crazy game 5-3, the equaliser coming from a goal-keeping howler, although Kuressaare’s 4th goal from Larsen was yet another shot from outside the penalty area.
For the return leg Kuressaare still had only 13 fit players but made one change with Penzev making his full debut. Maardu replaced their goalkeeper. Due the freezing conditions the match was switched from Kuressaare’s picturesque home ground to their training ground located next to a grim looking army barracks and what looked like a haulage yard. Some temporary seating had been installed but the spectators in one corner looked to be close to encroaching onto the pitch. Despite the mid-day minus 1 degree temperature, the home fans were determined to have a good time, many of them wearing just shorts and taking turns to go into what looked like a hot tub whilst drink cans of beer, but others were in various types of fancy dress, and one in his dressing gown. Together with the obligatory drummer they made a lot of noise for a small crowd !
If they were expecting their side to waltz to safety they had an early shock as Maardu took the lead through Ogorodnik’s smart sided footed volley to bring the tie back to 5-4 on aggregate and two minutes later another chance for Maardu went inches wide.
Maardu took a physical approach and several Kuressaare players were left rolling around on the floor. However, the prospect of Kuressaare having to play with less than a full XI during to a lack of injury replacements didn’t arise as all the players recovered to play on.
Penzev marked his first start with a well-placed header for the equalizer to restore the 2 goal cushion and making it 1-1 on the day at half-time. 19 year old striker Mattias Mannilaan then extended the lead on 60 minutes with another header to virtually kill the contest.
As Maardu faded they conceded two more scores, including a second for Mannilaan. Vadim Aksjonov's superb curling shot was a mere late consolation for Maardu. Substitute keeper Kutt appeared 6 minutes from the end to play as a centre forward as Kuressaare closed out a 4-2 victory and win 9-5 on aggregate to survive via the play-offs for the third time running. For Maardu it was a second failure in the play-offs, having also lost in 2016.
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