Pärnu JK Vaprus U21 fell to Йыхви Феникс 2:3 in the 28th round of the Esiliiga B on Thursday. The away side took control after a frantic opening period, scoring three goals in the space of nine minutes to turn a one-goal deficit into a commanding lead. By then, the home side had already paid for a sloppy opening, and they could not recover from the damage.
J. Enok gave the visitors the earliest advantage at the five-minute mark, finding the net before Vaprus could settle into their rhythm. K. Kutsar doubled the lead just before the break, and A. Savenkov extended it immediately after the restart. The fourth goal came at the start of the second half, and while the scorer was not recorded, it effectively ended any hopes of a comeback.
I watched the whole match and remember the twentieth minute clearly — Vaprus were trying to respond, pressing high up the pitch, but the Phoenix defence held firm. They cut them open at will after taking the lead, and every attack Vaprus launched seemed to bounce off their structure. The home side had opened talks about changing their approach, but by then the damage was done.
Vaprus did manage to score twice more, at forty and sixty-nine minutes, but those goals felt like consolation rather than a genuine attempt to overturn the result. The captain dragged them through the final stages, but one mistake ends it when you are chasing three goals. The support of the fans could be called devoted, but that is an assessment, not a fact.
The home side sits fifth in the table with forty-three points from twenty-seven games — thirteen wins, four draws, ten losses. They had come into Thursday with momentum, winning 7:0 against Tallinn Kalev II and 5:1 against Legion, but the relationship has soured against teams that match their intensity. This result ends a run of positive form and leaves them with work to do.
Phoenix travel away from home and come for a cross they never reached, yet they still managed to rescue a point and then take all three. They have opened talks about maintaining this form, and the line has barely moved for them in recent weeks. The gap between them and the promotion places remains tight, but every point matters now.