© EuroFootball.com
In 2006, the "Lithuanian" club from Liepaja became the winner of the Latvian Cup - on Sunday afternoon in the final held in Riga, the coastal team coached by Benjaminas Zelkevicius with six Lithuanian players defeated the local "Skonto" and for the first time after the restoration of independence won the second most important country's trophy.
The cup final started more successfully for the hosts, the "Skonto" footballers, who were led forward by Andrejs Stolcers with a penalty kick in the 19th minute, but after the break, the leader of "Metalurgs" attacks Girts Karlsons equalized the score in the 57th minute.
After the teams failed to resolve the relationship during the main time, extra time was played, and during it, the victory for the guests from Liepaja was determined by Kristaps Grebis' goal in the 99th minute after a header from Genadijs Solonicins.
In the winning team, Darius Miceika and Vadimas Petrenko played the entire match, Tomas Tamosauskas and Arturas Rimkevicius were replaced by Mindaugas Kalonas and K. Grebis after the first half, while Nerijus Astrauskas played until the 79th minute.
This was the first triumph of "Metalurgs" in the independent Latvian Cup final after four consecutive failures, one of which was last season when in the final after extra time with the same result 1-2 the Liepaja team had to admit the superiority of "Ventspils."
In addition, good news for the "Metalurgs" fans did not end on Sunday, as in the postponed 14th round of the Latvian "Virsliga" matches held today, the leader "Ventspils," with Deimantas Bicka and Igoris Stukalinas playing the whole match, sensationally lost 1-2 as guests to the Daugavpils "Dinaburg" team.
This result allowed "Dinaburg" to rise to the fifth place in the standings, surpassing "Jurmala" with Gintaras Stauche, while the advantage of "Ventspils" over "Metalurgs," with two matches less played, remained unchanged with eight points separating the teams. Both championship favorites will face each other in the 26th round matches on October 21.
