"The Storm" descends on the "Flora" team © EuroFootball.com

In the last matches of the Baltic League groups, Vilnius "Vėtra" met with Talinn "Flora" club from Estonia at home and after experiencing their first defeat in group D had to settle for second place. The only goal of the match was scored by the guests from Estonia at the end of the first half.

Vilnius "Vėtra" Stadium, 250 spectators Vilnius "Vėtra" 0 - 1 Tallinn "Flora" 41` [0 - 1] Enver Jaager 28` Marius Birškys ("Vėtra") was sent off the field

"Vėtra": Kozyrev; Usačiov, Birškys, Jankauskas, Budimir; Božinovski, Milošeski, Tarkhanov, Vėževičius, Šernas; Azizi

"Vėtra" head coach Aleksandras Tarchanovas gave a rest to the most played eight players, so an experimental lineup took the field against "Flora" - making his debut was young Marius Birškys, while defenders recovering from injuries Darvydas Šernas, Dejan Milošeskis, Bob Božinovski also played. Meanwhile, the "Flora" guests arrived with their strongest lineup - after the last matches in the Estonian championship, the team had only two changes in the starting lineup.

"Vėtra" had already secured a ticket to the knockout stage, but needed a victory with a margin of at least two goals to take the first place in the group. From the beginning of the match, the hosts attacked the opponents' goal. In the 4th minute, "Flora" goalkeeper Mihkel Aksalu had to parry a shot by B. Božinovski, and a few minutes later, after a penalty kick, Maksut Azizi headed the ball into the goal, but the visitors were saved by the goalpost.

However, in the middle of the first half, the situation for "Vėtra" became complicated, as debutant M. Birškys was sent off the field for a rough mistake against Juho Hakola. With the hosts reduced to ten men, a gap appeared on the right side of the defense and four minutes before the break "Flora" took advantage when Enver Jaager sent the ball into the net from close range after a sharp pass from the left side of the penalty area. The visitors scored their first goal in the Baltic League and took the lead with a score of 0:1.

At the beginning of the second half, "Flora" threatened the goal twice from long-range shots by Dejan Milošeskis, but Estonian goalkeeper M.Aksalu repelled both attempts by "Vėtra" defenders. Later, the guests, who had a numerical advantage, created several opportunities - K. Viikmae headed above the goal, and a quick counterattack shot by J. Hakola was saved by goalkeeper Stanislav Kozyrev, while a couple of attempts by Estonian clubs were inaccurate.

In the final part of the match, "Vėtra" attacked more - after a corner, M. Budimir missed the target with his head, D. Celiukas' attempt was off target, and after a dangerous shot from the penalty area by Dejan Milošeskis, the ball was deflected beside the goalpost by the goalkeeper's fingertips. "Flora" responded with a shot by Gert Kams that won a duel against the goalkeeper.

At the end of the match, "Vėtra" tried to avoid defeat by launching a couple more attacks - M.Ahksalu caught a shot by D. Milošeskis, D. Šernas attempted a long shot, but the score remained unchanged. "Vėtra" lost to "Flora" and having taken the second place in group D, they will face the Latvian champion "Ventspils" in the quarter-finals.