ventspils battle back published: thursday 28 august 2003, 23.00cet wisla plock 2-2 fk ventspils (agg: 3-3, ventspils win on away goals) latvians' fightback rewarded.
fk ventspils progressed to the uefa cup first round after fighting back to eliminate wisla plock.
away-goals win trailing 2-0 in poland, goals from vits rimkus and sergei zangareev earned the latvians a 2-2 draw and advancement on away goals, due to the sides' 1-1 first-leg draw. it spelt an unhappy end to plock's first european campaign yet at half-time they had looked on course for the first round after leading through two goals from ireneusz jelen.
jelen opens scoring jelen opened the scoring after 12 minutes, converting a cross from vahan gevorgyan. he had threatened a goal even before then, shooting wide when clean through on goal, albeit having been ruled offside. it became 2-0 to plock four minutes before the break, jelen this time breaking through the visitors' defence to score with an individual effort.
ventspils seize initiative the second half was the complete opposite, however, as ventspils seized the initiative. in the 51st minute rimkus narrowed the deficit with a header from an igoris stukalinas corner. in the 68th minute substitute branislav jasurek broke down the left and crossed to zangareev who made it 2-2.
red card it got worse for plock when marcin wasilewski was sent off 16 minutes from time. still they might have snatched a winner but radoslaw matusiak twice shot wide in the closing stages.
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