Tallinn beat holders to book final spot

There was a dramatic finale in the Estonian Cup semi-final second leg tonight when FC Levadia Tallinn eliminated holders JK Trans Narva with an 89th-minute goal from Pavel Apalinski.

Surprise team
Tallinn have been the surprise team of the cup so far, as in the quarter-finals they beat the league champions and last year’s other cup finalists FC Flora Tallinn.

Dõmov equalises
The first leg in Narva finished in a 1-1 draw and Narva seemed to be on their way to their third final when the Russian striker Dmitri Lipartov scored the 18th-minute opener. However, Tallinn won a penalty just before half-time and Sergei Dõmov converted to level the scores.

Exciting finish
The second half was largely uneventful and the game looked to be drifting to extra-time. However, in the final minutes, Apalinski, the left-winger, broke through the defence to score and bring his team their first ever cup final appearance.

Away goals win
In the final Tallinn will meet their ‘mother club’ FC Levadia Maardu who qualified by drawing against TVMK Tallinn 2-2 away from home but securing victory on the away goals rule. The first match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Maardu came from behind
Again this match swung from one side to the other as at first it seemed victory was heading to TVMK after their 19-year-old striker, Ingemar Teever - on as a tenth minute substitute for the injured captain Aleksei Kapustin - scored the opener after 13 minutes. It took 56 minutes for Pasi Rautiainen's team to equalise through Mark Svets and after Maksim Rõtskov put away a penalty just six minutes later, TVMK had to score twice to reach the final.

Too little too late
They managed only the one, again through Teever in the last minute, but it was too little too late.

UEFA Cup place up for grabs
The final will be held on 31 May at Tallinn's A Le Coq Arena. The winners will join TVMK - the league runners-up - in next season’s UEFA Cup. Estonia's UEFA Champions League spot was won by Flora, the title winners.