Latvia round-up: Ventspils maintain lead
Saturday, June 22, 2002
Article summary
FK Ventspils retained their four-point lead over FC Skonto after beating FK Valmiera on Saturday.
Article body
FK Ventspils maintained their four-point lead at the Latvian Virsliga summit on Saturday with a 3-0 home victory against FK Valmiera, but second-placed FC Skonto kept in touch with a 6-0 mauling of PFK/Daugava.
Fine display
Ventspils took the lead through Deimantas Bichka in the 32nd minute and doubled their advantage after Maris Smirnovs found the net a minute before the break. Andrei Butrik capped a fine home display from Ventspils with a third goal on 66 minutes.
Dominant Skonto
Last season's champions Skonto were ruthless in their demolition of Daugava. Mikhail Zemlinskis gave Skonto the lead with a penalty in the 25th minute and two goals in the last two minutes of the first half, from Vladimirs Kolesnicenko and Viktors Morozs, gave the visitors a comfortable half-time lead.
Icing on the cake
Kolesnicenko made it 4-0 with his second goal of the game after 63 minutes, and a brace from Alexander Yeliseyev (79, 86) put the icing on the cake for Skonto.
