Tallinna Kalev II defeated JK Tabasalu 4:1 in the Esiliiga B, the Estonian second tier, during the 28th round of the regular season on Thursday evening. The home side, sitting ninth with 23 points after 27 matches, ran out comfortable winners against the eighth-placed visitors on 32 points. by then the result had already settled matters for the evening.
Kalev II struck first in the 19th minute before extending their lead shortly after. J. Esna netted in the 20th minute and J. Kokla added another in the 25th, putting the hosts two goals ahead by half-time. T. Seimoja rounded off the scoring in the 45th minute, and and here's the thing, the home side never looked back after that.
Tabasalu pulled one back through P. Olsen in the 79th minute, but the reply felt hollow against the deficit. A late goal in the 90+1st minute completed the scoring, though the details of that final strike are unclear from the available data. The visitors had not scored in their previous outing against Narva U21, and to be fair, this performance offered little sign of a turnaround.
Kalev II came into the match with mixed form. They had suffered a heavy 7:0 defeat to Pärnu JK Vallrus U21 on September 6th, but before that they had beaten Tülivik 2:1 and drawn with Tartu Kalev. The result ended a run of three matches without victory for the home side.
Tabasalu's recent record offered little comfort. A 3:2 win against Luunja on September 5th was followed by a 4:0 loss to Narva U21, and before that they had been thrashed 6:0 by Pärnu JK Vallrus U21. Their last meeting with Kalev II on August 16th had ended 1:1, and on that occasion the visitors had not been able to break through.
The win lifts Kalev II to 26 points from 28 games, though they remain ninth. Tabasalu drop to 32 points from 28 matches and stay eighth. The gap between them shrinks to six points, but the home side's recent form suggests they are not done yet. and here's the thing, matches like this are often decided in the first half, and Kalev II made sure of that.