On May 5, the JFK “Ventspils” team hosted the FK “Smiltene/BJSS” team at home as part of the 5th round of the Optibet “Future League”, where they won their first victory this season.
In the 16th minute of the game, Colombian Maifer Arroyo put us in the lead, the first half ended with the result 1:0.
Both teams started the second half actively, creating dangerous moments from time to time, the guests did not give up and tried to equalize the result until the 90th minute of the game, it must be said that Smiltenians were close to scoring a goal, but the goalkeeper of JFK “Ventspils” did not give the guests any chance in this game to score a goal. In the 90th + 3rd minute of the game, Artemijs Mihails Luchins scored a goal for the Smiltene team, who scored for the second game in a row, putting our team in the lead 2:0, with which the game whistle sounded and the game ended.
Head coach Igor Kichigin’s comment after the game:
“We approached this game with a lot of attention and seriousness, because we knew that Smiltenians would do everything and rush forward to score their first goal of the season, as they had failed to do so in four rounds. I’m glad that we didn’t let them do it in the 5th round either, thanks to the selflessness of Aleks Petrov, and also the defenders blocked dangerous shots from the opponent well. The opponent is good, who knows how to play, creating dangerous attacks and defends skillfully. We are pleased with the performance of our team in attack, that we were able to find their weaknesses in defense and get a fairly convincing victory. We really wanted to win. We managed this task and we are happy! Now we will prepare just as seriously for the game against Marupes SC.”
– The next home game is on May 19 against Ogres “United” at O/C “Ventspils” stadium. When will you start training on natural grass?
“Yes, at the moment we continue to train on the artificial grass, as the next game is on May 11 away against the “Mārupes” team and they play their home games on the artificial field. After this game, if the weather is favorable, we will start training on the natural pitch, which is carefully prepared every day.”
Midfielder Artemii Mihailas Luchin’s comment:
“Difficult game, it was difficult to get into the game in the first half. A good opponent today who plays aggressive and unyielding football. At the beginning of the game, we scored important goals, which gave the team additional confidence, then maybe we sat down a bit, preventing the opponent from creating moments, but I’m glad that I scored a goal at the end of the game and then everything was clear…”
– What brings you luck that you score an important goal for the second game in a row?
“The most important thing I want to say about this is that Mayfer has to score first, he scores and straight away I hit in, I think that’s how it works at the moment!”
Team captain Nikita Rozantsev after the victory:
“We played a good first half today, all you guys! We struck quickly, a lot of things happened on the field, we played well in defense. In the second half, maybe we managed to create attacks a little less, but at the end of the game we scored an important goal, which brought us three points today – finally!”
– What did you do today to score two goals and keep your own goal unscored?
“We played a lot better defensively than in the previous games, we blocked more of their shots which let us down in the previous game, and we finally got some good attacks with dangerous moments from our forwards!”
– In conclusion, a serious question, who is better, Haaland or Mbappé?
“Luchin! (laughs)”
The yellow ones are currently in the 9th position in the competition of 14 teams with six points. The next home game is on May 19 at O/C “Ventspils” stadium against Ogres United.
