League Play-Off

Saltburn-by-the-sea
Spectators: 39 (Terracing: 30, Seating: 9, VIP seats: 0) Aveley City's Kondrat Grudinskiy started the match with a crisp pass. The crowd had been anticipating this game for weeks and the excitement in the stadium was easily visible. In the 15thth minute of the game Kondrat Grudinskiy who was perfectly placed tried to make a shot on goal, but Saltburn-by-the-sea United's Vasiliy Izyumov was lucky and managed to grab hold of the ball. Aleksandr Lihachev showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Stepan Bogdanov, who was totally free with the ball in the 24th minute. After having played for 28 minutes, Ivan Kulakov managed to get in a good position for a shot on goal. Aveley City's supporters crossed their fingers, but Ivan Kulakov was, after a quick turn that froze the defenders, out of balance and shot the ball just to the right of the goal. Fedor Gurev kicked a quick shot right in front of the goal in the 34thth minute. Though ot was a great shot Aveley City's keeper Aleksandr Lihachev was sill able to block leaving the score board unchanged. Kondrat Grudinskiy received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 39th minute. Vasiliy Izyumov tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. Kondrat Grudinskiy might have been able to make a better finish in the 43rd minute when he tried to place a hard shot over Vasiliy Izyumov. Instead the ball went over the crossbar and out. Kondrat Grudinskiy ran back to his position shaking his head. Ivan Kulakov took the ball and in the 45 minute, shot a rapid shot to the right of a surprised Vasiliy Izyumov. Vasiliy Izyumov dived to the right, and did manage to get a hand on the shot, but it still went into the right corner making it 0-2. Disappointed in the 0-2 score, the home team went to the dressing room to adjust tactics for the second half.

The players of the home team were most fresh-looking when they entered the field to play the second half. Stepan Bogdanov was the one to do the kick off. Vasiliy Izyumov made a fantastic save in the 55th minute, when Ivan Kulakov sent off a good shot on target. In the 56th match minute, Aveley City was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Vladimir Parov to maneuver through the defense. In the 57th minute, Sergey Poskachin got an opportunity to score, but he didn't get a solid hit on the ball and ended up kicking it wide of the goal. Ivan Kulakov received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 61st minute. Vasiliy Izyumov tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. In the 69th minute Aveley City were awarded a corner. Rustam Simov went to the cornerflag to take it. A nice corner shot did that Rustam Simov got away a dangerous shot. Despite this Vasiliy Izyumov quite easily got ahold of the ball to make the save. In the 70th minute Grigoriy Blinov shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Aleksandr Lihachev saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Aleksandr Lihachev took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Stepan Bogdanov, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. In the 80th minute, Saltburn-by-the-sea United's Vladislav Abdulov seemed to kick out at an opponent. The referee saw this and, surprisingly, showed Vladislav Abdulov the red card, dismissing him from the pitch. The coaching staff of Saltburn-by-the-sea United protested bitterly, but the referee would have none of it, and Vladislav Abdulov had no choice but to slowly walk off the pitch. 79 minutes into the game, one of Saltburn-by-the-sea United:s players got tackled near the goal, and the referee blew for a penalty. 85 minutes into the match, Aveley City's goal looked a bit too open when Fedor Gurev came free, but Aleksandr Lihachev reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. The audience thought a goal was coming when Ivan Kulakov got free with Vasiliy Izyumov in the 87th minute, but the goalkeeper managed to catch the ball with a huge effort. Vasiliy Izyumov made an important save on a dangerous shot by Ivan Kulakov in the 88th minute. Artur Sherstoboev's late challenge caught a Saltburn-by-the-sea United's player on the shin and left him crawling around in pain. The referee blew his whistle and produced the yellow card. Artur Sherstoboev helped the player get up and apologised. After a rather tough play, Aveley City's Artur Sherstoboev got a free kick in the 92nd minute. Sergey Poskachin, 93 minutes into the match, dribbled the ball up the side of the field and decided to take a long shot at the goal. Unfortunately, the ball was poorly hit and landed closer to the corner than to the goal. Aleksandr Lihachev showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Fedor Gurev, who was totally free with the ball in the 96th minute. The away crowd were delighted with the way their team had played and cheered loudly when the final whistle sounded. Aveley City walked away with the win, even though the match was close until the end.