Gauračs hat-trick sinks Faroes

Mihails Zemlinskis's Latvia recorded their second win in Group 1 of 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying with a 3-1 victory over the Faroe Islands in Tórshavn thanks to a hat-trick from Edgars Gauračs.

Perfect start
Gauračs scored his first of the day after only 38 seconds when he latched on to an early free-kick to beat Jóan Pauli Jacobsen in the home goal. Gauračs, of UEFA Europa League hopefuls FK Ventspils, doubled the visitors' advantage after 20 minutes and all but ensured victory a minute prior to half-time to render Rógvi Poulsen's 38th-minute strike little more than a consolation.

First-half treble
While the Faroe Islands could claim to have been caught cold by  Gauračs' opener, they could have little mitigation against his second, with Jacobsen only able to divert a header on to the crossbar and Gauračs capitalising. Poulsen's long-range effort provided a brief glimmer of hope for the Faroe Islands but their deficit was back to two goals just three minutes later when Gauračs completed his hat-trick. They are now fifth in their section after collecting four points from as many games, two fewer than third-placed Latvia.