Estonia: Maardu secure third spot

FC Levadia Maardu beat hosts JK Trans Narva on Sunday to secure third place in the Meistriliiga on the final day of the season.

Champions dethroned
Maardu, Estonian Premier division champions in each of the two previous seasons, won 2-1 in the Narva Kreenholm stadium to ensure Narva did not leapfrog them in the table.

Leading scorer
Frontman Toomas Krõm opened the scoring after ten minutes for Maardu, but Maksim Gruznov scored his 37th goal of an outstanding season to level proceedings eleven minutes later. Narva's hopes of finishing third seriously diminished after half and hour when Gruznov, the leading scorer in the division by 14 goals, limped out of the game.

Ten men
Narva were reduced to ten men when sweeper Oleg Kurotskin saw red after 71 minutes and the hosts' misery was compounded four minutes later when Vitali Leitan popped up to net the winner.

12-0 humiliation
There was no such joy for relegated FC Kuressaare as they suffered their second 12-0 humiliation in three matches at the hands of FC TVMK Tallinn, Anatoli Novozilov and Andrei Tjunin both hitting hat-tricks. The resounding victory secured runners-up spot for TVMK and a place in next season's UEFA Cup qualification competition.

Another treble
JK Tulevik Viljandi's Estonian international striker Dmitri Ustritski also scored a treble as his side accounted for FC Levadia Tallinn. Vjatseslav Zahovaiko put Tulevik ahead in the 19th minute before Ustritski doubled his side's advantage after 34 minutes. Vadim Dolinin pulled Tallinn back in the game eleven minutes after the break before Ustritski scored in the 65th and 83rd minutes to complete his hat-trick.

Second-half goals
Elsewhere, the newly crowned champions, FC Flora, waltzed to a 3-0 victory over FC Lootus-Kohtla Järve with Aleksander Kulik, Aleksander Saharov and Kert Haavistu all scoring in the second half.

Play-off
Lootus' top-flight status will depend on whether they can beat FC Valga, the second-placed team in the first division, in a two-legged play-off. Valga are seeking a return to the Premier division after a one-season absence.

Levadia champions
The Estonian first division was won by FC Levadia Pärnu, another team from Viktor Levada's empire. It remains to be seen, however, if he will register all three teams for the forthcoming season.