Laagri are through to the next round after thrashing Tallinn 10-0 in the Round of 16 of the Cup on Saturday. The visitors never looked in danger from the moment they took the lead in the twenty-sixth minute, and by the time the first half ended they had already established a margin the home side would never recover from.
Abdul Binate opened the scoring at the 26-minute mark, and Marten Kelement doubled the advantage a minute later. Daniil Rudenko added a third before the break, and the visitors made it four from the penalty spot in the fifty-third minute. Tallinn were reduced to ten men in the fifty-fifth after their fifth yellow card, and Laagri never let up.
Abdul Binate completed his hat-trick in the fifty-eighth and sixty-first minutes, and Joseph Ndakala scored in the sixty-third. Rudenko grabbed his second in the sixty-fourth, and Stevin Kerge made it nine in the seventy-fifth. The tenth and final goal came in the eighty-fifth minute, though the scorer was not identified.
We had tipped Laagri to win with 72 per cent confidence before kickoff, and the result was never really in doubt. Tallinn simply did not travel to make up the numbers against a side that worked them over from the first whistle. The hosts have been in and out of form this season, but this was a different beast entirely.
The visitors' recent results show a team finding its rhythm. They drew with Kuressaare and beat Paide 2-1 before a heavy defeat to Vaprus. Tallinn's last five include a 5-0 win over Harju Läägri U21 and a 1-1 draw with Elva, but neither of those games carried the weight of a knockout fixture.
Laagri move into the quarter-finals with their reputation enhanced. Tallinn's campaign is over, and the scoreline reflects a gap that no amount of wishful thinking can bridge.
