“Baltic XL/Livonia” played its fourth game in this season’s Baltic Top League on Saturday. The season started with a 46:17 victory over “Miesnieki”, but then they had to lose to Kaunas “Ažuolas” in an equal game with 24:31. Two weeks ago, another similar battle against “Šiauliai” was played, in which the Livonians won 28:11 in the end. However, everything did not end well, because after the victory against Šiauliai, the team “Baltic XL/Livonia” was penalized in a controversial situation and late, receiving a technical loss and also a fine.
Therefore, instead of a positive balance, a negative one emerged – one win and two losses. In addition, the still controversial decision on crediting the loss was supplemented by the deduction of one point. Thus, the Livonians had nowhere to retreat and had to beat the champions of the last two years to keep their hopes for the quarterfinals or semi-finals. Opponents could not afford to lose either, as the title defenders have not had a successful start to this season, drawing once against “Baltrex” in the two games so far, but experiencing an unexpected loss with 20 points to “Geležinis Vilkas” from Vilnius.
The hosts opened the score with a touchdown in the 11th minute – 0:5. “Baltic XL/Livonia” tried to take over the initiative, which resulted only in the 30th minute with an accurate penalty shot by Jack Tatu – 3:5, but in fact a minute later after the game with captain Enzo Beltramino’s touchdown, the Livonians took the lead with 10:5, because it was accurate also Tatu’s conversion kick. After a few minutes, the visitors scored the second penalty kick, making it 13:5.
At the end of the half, the home team answered first with three points, and in the last seconds also with a touchdown and a conversion, thus “Baltic XL/Livonia” led by two points during the break – 13:15.
The score did not change in the first 10 minutes of the second half. In the 50th minute, the home team could have increased their advantage, but they did not take advantage of a good penalty kick opportunity. However, five minutes passed and with the second run, the right penalty kick situation was used, and the Livonians were in the lead with a touchdown difference – 13:18.
The champions of the last year continued to apply pressure and very soon scored three more points – 13:21. In the 70th minute, the Lithuanians were close to a touchdown and continued to apply pressure at the Livonian scoring area, but the winners of this year’s Latvian regular championship defended successfully and eventually intercepted the ball. In the 77th minute, the Livonian team formed a good counter-attack, which could have created a good landing situation, but the referee saw a mistake on the part of the guests, reducing the chances of equalizing the result to a minimum.
“Baltic XL/Livonia” played more and more actively in the last minutes, but a difficult task awaited them – to overcome an eight-point deficit, which meant that touchdowns and conversions were not enough. In the penultimate minute, the Livonians’ efforts paid off, as a touchdown was brought in and Tatū was once again accurate in the implementation, achieving a minimal deficit – 20:21. After the ball was introduced into the game, the Livonians’ attempt to take the lead was stopped by the referee’s whistle, signaling the end of the game. Therefore, “Baltic XL/Livonia” had to experience the smallest loss in this very similar game with a difference of one point.
The next game for the Livonians in the Baltic Top League will be next Saturday, August 31, when they will host the title-holder “Baltrex” at the Upesciema Stadium.
2024-08-27 16:06:26