June 29, 2024
Today marked these diaries’ second visit to the Estonian Meistriliiga this season, after covering the match between Tartu Tammeka and Narva Trans back in late May. Today’s match was a meeting between bottom of the table Nomme United and second placed Flora Tallinn.
Nomme United
Nomme United were formed in 2000 and play in the Manniku stadium which has 500 uncovered seats and a grass pitch. The ground is situated on the edge of a forest, so naturally much of the pitch is tree lined.
Nomme have featured once before in these diaries, when they were hammered 0-6 at home to Levadia Under 21s in the 2022 Esiliiga. They finished sixth that season but last season they stormed to the title by a 19 point margin to clinch promotion to the Meistriliiga for the first time ever.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2022/06/fc-nomme-united-0-6-fci-levadia-u21-att.html
Key to that success was striker Egert Ounappu, now 19 years old, who score 32 league goals, to make in 68 goals in two seasons.
Nomme have perhaps not unexpectedly struggled at the start of their first ever season at the highest level, with a 2-4-10 record and scoring only 10 goals. Part of this can be explained by Ounappu playing only 86 minutes in the opening fixtures before being injured. However, he was back on the bench for today’s game.
Last time out Nomme lost 0-6 at home to Levadia ( this time the first XI ! ) but prior to that that had been on a three game unbeaten run, drawing 1-1 at Kuressaare, beating Vaprus Parnu 2-1 at home and drawing 1-1 at Nomme Kalju. Their other only victory had been a 2-1 home win over Tartu Tammeka.
Nomme’s average attendance so far this season has been 291, which compares to 118 last season in the Esiliiga.
Although some of the players are still with the club, only one of the side that played for Nomme in the 2022 game against Levadia Under 21s, fullback Samuel Merilai, was in their squad for today. Keeper Gergor Purg, who was 16 at the time, is now playing in the youth teams at Venezia in Italy, whilst striker Dimitri Jepihhin in now with Paide Linnameeskond.
Probably the star name in the Nomme squad is ex-Vitesse Arnhem, Emmen and Flora keeper Marko Meerits ( 14 caps ) whilst midfielder Mihkel Jarviste had played for Flora and Tammeka. Ukrainian forward Mykhaylo Plothotnyuk has played for Romanian side Politehnica Iasi, Azeri midfielder Murad Velijev is on loan from Levadia, and attacker Jevgeni Demidov was previously at Narva, Tulevik and Kalju. Midfielder Kaspar Roomussaar was in Harju Laagri sides that lost to Tallinna Kalev last year as reported on by Fatbear.
Flora Tallinn
Flora have regularly been featured in these diaries, but their last match report was on the final day of the 2021 season, when needing a victory over Levadia to win the league, a 2-2 draw in snowy conditions handed the title to their great rivals.
https://fatbearssportingdiaries.blogspot.com/2021/12/flora-tallinn-2-2-fci-levadia-att-1023.html
Flora, who famously have a policy of only signing Estonian qualified players, bounced back to claim the 2022 and 2023 Meistriliiga titles, taking them to 15 in total – the most by any club in the Meistriliiga.
Flora will be Estonia’s representative in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League but have been handed a tough draw against Slovenia champions Celje. Last year Flora were eliminated 0-4 on aggregate by Polish side Rakow Czestochowa, and then lost 0-5 on aggregate to Romanians Farul Constanta in the Europa Conference.
Flora had made a poor start to the defence of their title, and started the day 10 points behind Levadia with a 10-5-3 record. The three losses had come at the hands of Paide ( A 1-2 and H 1-3 ) and surprisingly to struggling Vaprus Parnu ( H 0-1 ). They had also lost a Cup Quarter-Final 1-2 to Levadia but did inflict Levadia’s only league reverse with a 1-0 victory.
Flora’s troubles are mainly down to a mixture of financial constraints and the departure of many of their experienced players. Of the side that took to the field against Levadia in December 2021, keeper Matvei Igonen is currently with Bulgarian side Botev Plovdiv, Marten Kuusk is playing for GKS Katowice in Poland, Martin Miller is at Irish side Bohemians, Ken Kallaste joined Levadia and Henrik Ojamaa is with Paide. Michael Lilander and Sten Reinkort also joined Bohemians but have both recently been released, and today it was reported that Lilander had signed for Paide.
Markus Poom is on a year long loan at Shamrock Rovers, another League of Ireland side, whilst prolific striker Rauno Sappinen has left Hapoel Jerusalem after suffering a serious injury.
Despite all this turmoil, Flora’s squad today still contained 11 full Estonian internationals, including record cap holder Konstantin Vassiljev who recently retired from international duty with 158 appearances for his country. Ex-Blackpool midfielder Sergei Zenjov has 113 caps, although Vladislav Kreida ( 21 caps ), Markus Soomets ( 14 caps ) and Rauno Alliku ( 10 caps ) were the only others who had more than 10 caps.
Forward Mark Lepik was the league’s joint top scorer with 14 goals.
Matchday Information
Today’s game could be seen as a local derby, with the distance from Flora’s Le Coq Arena to the Manniku Stadium being just over 5km. Tickets for today match were €7 for adults and €4 for students if paid in advance, or €10 and €5 respectively at the gate.
The weather at the 14.30 local kick-off time ( 12.30 UK ) was sunny and 21 degrees.
The match was streamed live on the SoccernetEE YouTube channel and the pre-match odds had Flora 2/5 hot favourites, with Nomme at 6/1 and the draw at 3/1
When the sides meet on the opening day of the season, Flora were comfortable 2-0 winners, in front of a crowd of 1,033 at the Sportland Arena.
Nomme made two changes to the side that started the 0-6 drubbing by Levadia with Jarviste and Kevin Matas replacing Demidov and Slovak defender Jakub Luka, who is on loan from Ruzemberok. Flora made just the one change with Alliku being replaced by Danil Kuraksin ( 1 cap )
Nomme were playing in a kit of red shirts with black stripes, with black shorts and socks, whilst Flora were in their away kit of an all-white with what appears to be grey sleeves.
Match Report
The first chance of the match fell to Flora after 90 seconds but Zenjov’s volley on the run after latching onto a long ball went over the bar. Flora then forced consecutive corners which came to nothing but generally the opening ten minutes were mainly cagey possession football.
Nomme were first seen as an attacking force in the 13th minute, but a flowing move saw Matas shoot narrowly wide from the edge of the area. Flora responded almost immediately but after Tougjas set-up Kuraksin, his shot from 20 yards was superbly tipped over the bar by keeper Meerits.
There wasn’t a great deal of action in the first thirty minutes, although the home side won a corner when the ball needed to be headed off to safety after a bit of a scramble in the penalty area.
Flora created a reasonable chance in the 28th minute when Zenjov played in Hussar on the right and his ball into the 6 yard box reached Lepik, but he failed to make a decent contact and the keeper gathered the loose ball.
Five minutes later a Nomme cross by Velijev from the left sailed onto the top of the crossbar and over, but keeper Grunvald looked to have had it covered.
The game was evenly poised, and the possession stats at the time were 51:49 in favour of Flora when the visitors unexpectedly opened the scoring. Mahhailov made a marauding run down the left and sent a curling cross from close to the by-line. Meerits misjudged it as it sailed over his head, Alteberg appeared to duck and the ball stuck Zenjov and rolled into the vacant goal as the 20 or so Flora fans started to celebrate. 0-1 after 36 minutes.
As the half was approaching its close, Flora looked the more likely to score the second goal of the game. A good move involving Toujas and Lepik needed the ball being put out of play for a corner. Shortly after, a shot from Kuraksin was blocked for a corner by Altaberg, which was punched away by Meerits. The referee then blew for half-time with just 8 extra seconds added.
Flora led at the interval but the game had been far from entertaining.
Flora came out of the blocks strongly for the second half, immediately forcing a corner, although the delivery was too long and bounced off beyond the far post. Flora had brought on Alliku for the anonymous Varjund at the break, and the substitute was looking lively, and it needed a good tackle to prevent him getting a shot in from just inside the Nomme area, although the linesman’s flag was subsequently raised for offside.
Flora continued to dominate, winning another corner which was cleared at the near post, and then a flowing move ended as Hussar lost control and Bergman gratefully conceded another corner which again was over-hit.
Kuraksin then sent a cross from the left-wing that the back-pedalling Meerits managed to push away on the stretch.
Nomme brought on Ounappu in the 57th minute and the youngster was quickly found in space on the right but his ball into the middle went beyond Velijev. Merilai was then in possession on the right but his inside pass for Plokhotnyuk to run onto was fractionally overhit and Flora put the ball of for a corner. Nomme’s pressing was already looking much more effective following the introduction of Ounappu.
Merilai again popped up on the right and his ball to Plokhotnyuk saw the Ukrainian’s shot blocked, and when possession was re-cycled, Laanelaid blazed high and wide from long range.
Although Nomme were enjoying a good spell it was still a bit of a surprise when they scored an equaliser. Kokka played a ball down the right-hand channel and Ounappu was able to run between Tougjas and Kolobov to latch on the pass, and then finish past Grunvald, who was maybe a little slow to come of his line. 1-1 after 73 minutes played.
Despite not being on the pitch for long, Ounappu was already seen on several occasions with his hands on his knees and blowing heavily. He looked far from fully-fit but his ability to finish was worth his weight in gold.
Shocked by being pegged back, Flora needed a response, and the veteran Vassiljev looked the most likely to provide it. In the 77th minute his cross from the left saw Alliku go to ground under pressure from Matas but again the offside flag was raised.
The first yellow card of the game was shown in the 82nd minute when Bergman pulled back Lepik near the half-way line as the Flora striker turned and ran away from him, and two minutes later Kokka joined Bergman in the referee’s notebook after fouling Vassiljev.
A good cross from Vassiljev needed a good defensive header from Laanelaid at the back post to concede a corner.
After a fairly dull opening 70 minutes, the game had burst into life in the last 20 minutes. Lepik headed a cross from the right wing across goal and wide of the post. Vassiljev drove a free-kick past the defensive wall but Meerits decided to first away rather than catch, and when the ball reached Vassiljev again, his follow-up was blocked.
Zenjov’s cross from the left by-line was then headed onto the roof of the net by Vassiljev from 12 yards.
As the match entered its final minute of normal time, the home side missed a golden opportunity to snatch an unlikely winner. Ounappu put Kokka clear inside the right side of Flora area and his pass across the 6-yard line was stabbed inches wide by Demidov.
Seven minutes of added time were announced. Zenjov laid off to Vassiljev but the shot from the edge of the area was blocked by a defender, then a minute later Vassiljev ran through the home defence but his left footed attempted from just outside the area went inches wide.
As play went from end to end, Kokka’s back-heel found Riisenberg in space, who in turn found Ounappu who showed great skill to play between the two Flora centre-backs for Riisenberg to run onto the return pass, but only to lift over the bar.
Vassiljev’s one man effort to score the winner for Flora then saw a 20-yard drive pushed away by Meerits, and Laanelaid made a superb sliding clearance to prevent Alliku pouncing on the loose ball.
In the 6th minute of added time, Flora launched a dangerous bouncing ball across the goalmouth, but Merilai eventually managed to clear the threat before Zenjov could prod the ball towards the goal.
The final play of the game saw Vassiljev cross from the left but the home defence were able to head away, and the referee blew the final whistle. Several of the Nomme players collapsed to the floor in exhaustion but when they finally recovered and got to their feet they were greeted as heroes by the home supporters.
After being pretty dull for most of the game, it was an exciting finish which could have gone either way. Nomme played some nice football at times, and if they can get Ounappu fit ( and not sell him ), they should have a good chance of avoiding relegation.
With Levadia winning 2-1 at Narva, Flora are now 12 points adrift in second place. They looked a much better side once Vassiljev entered the fray, but they can’t continue to rely on the 39 year old.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnztGpnmimw
Nomme United : Meerits – Merilai, Alteberg, Bergman, Laanelaid – Leoke ( Demidov ), Matas ( Kokka ), Jarviste, Roomussar, Velijev ( Ounappu ) – Plokhotnyuk ( Riisenberg )
Flora Tallinn : Grunvald – Hussar, Kolobov, Tougjas, Lukka – Zenjov, Kreida ( Soomets ), Mihhailov ( Cekredzi ), Kuraksin ( Vassiljev ) – Lepik, Varjund ( Alliku )
