December 5, 2021
With the rest of the
regular season over, two catch-up matches, delayed to assist Flora Tallinn’s
European campaign, were left to be completed. Intriguingly these two matches
involved the two sides at the top of the table and would decide the destination
of the 2021 title. Levadia led Flora by 4 points, so Flora needed to win both games
to retain their title, and after winning 5-1 last weekend a win today would see
them take the championship, whilst a draw ( or a win ) would be enough for
Levadia to win their first title since 2014.
Levadia had led the
table for much of the season, recovering from a 0-4 hammering at early pace-setters
Paide Linnameeskond in April. Only one point had been taken from their three
encounters with Flora, a 0-0 draw in April, a 2-4 reverse in May, and the 1-5
drubbing last week. They did though eliminate Flora from the Estonian Cup, with
a 1-0 victory back in May. The only other matches Levadia failed to win were a
2-3 defeat at Vijlandi Tulevik in late October and a 2-2 home draw with Legion
in early November. They possessed a 25-2-4 record going into today’s game and Georgian
Zakaria Beglarishvili was their top scorer with 24 goals, followed by Robert
Kirss with 15.
Flora had lost only
one league match all season, a surprise 0-1 loss at lowly Kuressaare in August
but too many draws had proven to be costly, with all three matches with Paide
finishing level ( 3-3, 0-0 and 1-1 ), two draws with Vijlandi ( 3-3 and 2-2 )
and another failure to overcome Kuressaare ( 2-2 ). Striker Rauno Sappinen led
their scoring charts with 23 goals, with Sergei Zenjov on 14.
Flora have had an historic
adventure in European competition, becoming the first Estonian side to reach
the group stages of a European competition, and then becoming the first side to
win a match in the group stages. After eliminating Maltese Champions Hibernian
in the Champions League, Legia Warsaw were given a fright before Flora eventually
went down 1-3 on aggregate. Dropping down to the Europa League, Flora were
knocked out by Omonia Nicosia on penalties after the tie had finished 2-2 on
aggregate, but Shamrock Rovers were beaten in their Europa Conference qualifier
after a 4-2 home win and a 1-0 win in Dublin to reach the groups stages
Two draws were
achieved against Anorthosis Famagusta before a famous 1-0 win over current
unbeaten Serbian league leaders Partizan Belgrade thanks to a goal from Martin
Miller.
In contrast, Levadia’s
Europa Conference season saw then eliminate Gibraltarian side St Joseph ( 3-1
and 1-1 ) before being knocked out by Irish side Dundalk ( 2-2 away, then 1-2
at home ).
Because of the weather
conditions at this time of year, the match was held on the artificial surface at
the Sportland Arena rather than the grass pitch at the Le Coq Arena. It was
snowing at the 13.00 local kick-off time, and the start was delayed a few
minutes to allow for the pitch to be swept again. The temperature was advised
to be minus 9 degrees and forecast to be minus 11 by the end of the match ! It
was definitely a day for the orange ball………
Bet365 made Flora 20/21
favourites, with Levadia at 12/5 and the draw also at 12/5. In the only change
to the side that had beaten Levadia 5-1 last week, Flora were without top scorer
Sappinen, presumably injured. The “away” side made three changes, including the
return of Robert Kirss, and starts for Serbian full-back Milan Mitrovic and international
midfielder Frank Liivak.
The first chance fell
to Levadia after just three minutes, with Ghanaian ex-Manchester City youth player
Ernest Agyiri making a good run down the left but his shot was blocked by the
Flora keeper. Levadia were making the early running, with Flora keeper Igonen
having to tip a cross from Ugge over the bar, and from the corner, Peetson headed
wide from close range when a goal looked likely.
In the slippery
conditions, the referee allowed a lot of tumbles to go un-penalised as players
sometimes struggled to maintain their balance.
The opening goal
arrived in the 34th minute. Flora defender Ken Kallaste misjudged a
bouncing ball into the Flora penalty area, giving Kirss the chance to latch
onto it and smash home past Igonen for a deserved lead for Levadia.
Both sides had been
attempting to play passing football on the deck, with little attempt to play
long balls to make defenders turn on the difficult surface. When Flora finally
launched a hopeful ball forward, the Levadia defender fell over and Alliku laid
the ball off the Vassiljev, but the veteran midfielder screwed his shot
horribly wide from around 12 yards.
With the clock moving
into the second minute of first half added time, the referee played a good
advantage when Zenjov was fouled near the half-way line, but he immediately got
to his feet and spread the ball out wide to the left where Kallaste made ground
to the Levadia penalty area, and his low cross was met by Ojamaa, who didn’t
make a decent contact, but had enough on it to send the ball into the far
corner for the equalizer. A half-time score-line of 1-1 was a little harsh on
Levadia who had mostly looked the better side.
Needing to score again
to win the league, Flora started the second half strongly and they had an
appeal for a penalty when Miller went down in the area attempting to get the
rebound after his first shot had been blocked, but the referee waived play-on. A
cross from Zenjov was then headed narrowly wide.
A huge moment of controversy
occurred in the 52nd minute. The ball looked twice to have gone over
the by-line as Kirss was surrounded by two Flora defenders, but as they stood
and appealed for the goal-kick, Kirss played on, made his way into the Flora
area and fired a shot into the roof of the net for his second goal of the game
and to give Levadia a 2-1 lead. Whatever the rights or wrongs of the decision,
Flora were guilty of not playing to the whistle.
Now needing to score
twice, Flora threw caution to the wind, and after a clever back-heel from
Vassiljev put Kallaste in space, a brave diving block by Peetson prevented a
goal.
The game turned again
20 minutes from time when Peetson brought down Alliku as the Flora striker
turned and started to move clear on goal. It was a clear yellow card, and being
his second of the game, Peetson had to leave the field. The Levadia bench were
furious but it looked a pretty obvious decision for the referee.
The final 20 minutes
were mostly one-way traffic as the Levadia players threw their bodies on the
line to make a number of crucial blocks, and when the ball was crossed into the
penalty area, keeper Vallner made three confident catches. There were several
goal-mouth scrambles, but the ball wouldn’t fall kindly for Flora, until the 93rd
minute when from another piece of pin-ball, Kallaste shot through a crowd of
players into the corner for the equalizer.
With a minimum of three
minutes of added on time to be played, Flora had one final attack, and Zenjov’s
dangerous cross was flicked on, but the ball went wide of both the far post and
two lurking Flora attackers. The referee then blew for full-time and Levadia
were champions !
Flora Tallinn : Igonen – Lilander, Seppik, Kuusk, Kallaste – Zenjov,
Soomets ( Poom ), Vassiljev, Miller ( Leppik ), Ojamaa ( Purg ) - Alliku
FCI Levadia : Vallner – Ugge ( Podholjuzin ), Peetson, Mitrovic – Liivak, Putincanin, Vastsuk ( Ilic ), Lepistu, Agyiri – Beglarishvili ( Antonov ), Kirss
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW6Q4qKycmg
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