Riga FS and Grobinya met in the Virsliga's twenty-sixth round on August tenth, and the hosts ran out 6:1 winners at home. By then the result looked inevitable — Riga sat top of the table with seventy points after twenty-eight games, while Grobinya languished in eighth with twenty-four points from twenty-nine matches.
The visitors started brighter, pressing high and winning a few aerial duels, but Riga's first goal came at the eleventh minute when S. Panic found the net. R. Ndjiki doubled the advantage just before half-time at twenty-eight minutes, and A. Balde made it three at thirty-six. A. Filipovic nodded in a fourth at forty-five plus two, and the break offered no respite — A. Aruna came on for Grobinya at forty-six alongside Filipovic's replacement.
And here's the thing about the second half: Riga kept pushing. J. Ikaunieks added a fifth at fifty-three minutes, and O. Olatunde-Matthew made it six at sixty-six. D. Korac pulled one back for Grobinya at seventy-five, but the damage was done. There were substitutions all over the pitch — A. Balde replaced at sixty, M. Corryn came on for him, I. Matyushenko went off at sixty-four, J. Ikaunieks at seventy-six, and A. Puzirevskis at seventy-eight.
The statistics tell you what you already saw. Riga owned fifty-nine per cent of possession, took thirteen shots on target with forty-six per cent accuracy, and created five big chances. Grobinya managed three shots on target, zero big chances, and had to make six saves. The difference in attacks — ninety-five to sixty-five — says it all.
Grobinya's recent run ends here. They lost 4:0 away to Riga two weeks ago and have only beaten one side since then — Marupe at home on July twelfth. Riga's form was mixed before this: a 2:0 defeat at Jablonec on August sixth, a draw at Vestrı, but they've been unbeaten in five since the summer break.
To be fair, the gap was always going to look bigger after this. Riga now sit forty-six points clear of eighth place, and the old head settled them down when it mattered. Grobinya need the points badly, but the table goes out of the window in these games — or rather, it doesn't move for them at all.
