Gori and Shurmia met in the Erovnuli Liga 2 regular season on 29 August, a fixture that ended 3-1 to the hosts. The result left Gori ninth on 22 points after 23 games, while Shurmia remained third with 33 points. It was a match where the scoreline told a different story than the events on the pitch.
N. Okropiridze opened the scoring in the 49th minute, giving Gori a lead they defended with some urgency. D. Kardava had been shown a yellow card just before the interval and was immediately replaced by T. Shekiladze, a double substitution that hinted at the manager's intention to change something.
Shurmia turned it on in the second half. J. Owusu-Ansa scored in the 76th minute, then again in the 81st, and suddenly the visitors were second to everything. A straight knockout momentum had arrived, and the hosts began to look as though they had the game won inside twenty minutes of the restart.
But Gori refused to fold. L. Papava ended a barren spell with a goal in the 84th minute, and the side saw it out. The substitution pattern was busy — V. Khositashvili off for G. Gazdeliani at 66, then Gazdeliani off for G. Khachapuridze at 67, Kemoklidze for Alimbarashvili at 75, and finally Alimbarashvili off for Vekua at 83.
Statistics suggested a evenly contested affair. Gori had 46 per cent possession against 54 for Shurmia, and the attack counts were 134 to 135. Shurmia won the corners 6-2 and had three yellow cards to Gori's one, but the figures barely captured the turning points.
The result kept Shurmia in third, eight points ahead of the fourth-placed side, while Gori's win did little to move them up the table. They had come for a cross they never reached for much of the game, then turned to the kids when the pressure came. By then, the damage was done.