SCHAUER FIRES HOME IN VICTORY FOR THE BLACK CATS
01 / 07 / 2016
SK Upesciems 
Winger Ede Schauer’s goal was enough to see Riga United claim three points over SK Upesciems.
Date published: 01/07/2016 - 18:15
Riga United FC 1-0 SK Upesciems
Schauer
78'
In an unusually lackluster affair between the two teams, Riga
United came out on top beating SK Upesciems 1-0 in what also marked
the last game for United legend, Paul Gloria Andrez. The solitary
goal came from Ede Schauer in the 78th minute.
For the neutral, this was an exciting prospect, eight games had
been played between the two teams, producing 39 goals. So you could
certainly understand why there was some interest and ‘a buzz’
surrounding this game.
This though, was not to be the case. For both teams, the ball
distribution was not working how they wanted it, and all too often
they gave away the ball as quickly as they retrieved it. The second
half was a better display for United. They found their rhythm
quicker and started playing the ball along the ground; the goal and
the victory was deserved.
The game started off very slowly for both teams, neither team
really got going and they both looked fairly sleepy. The two-week
break might have been a factor in the lack of rhythm and scrappy
nature of the first 15 minutes, during which nothing seemed to work
for either side.
Riga didn’t start off the way they normally would with their
passing game. There were too many balls going into the air
and not finding their mark. In the 18th minute, Upesciems had
a chance with a free header but it went wide. Riga United’s first
real effort came from Toms Cinglers, who in the 25th minute got a
good header from a corner, only to see it sail over the bar. The
only other chance came from Upesciems when their striker hit a
speculative effort which almost paid off: fortunately for United it
hit the crossbar.
Something was clearly said at half-time as Riga United came out in
the second half looking hungrier and with a much better
shape. Cinglers, in particular, was causing trouble on the
right as Riga found progress down both wings. There were a flurry
of crosses coming in for United, however, no one could get on the
end of them.
The United defence at the other end were holding up well.
There was a lot of communication and the shape was good. The
centre-back pairing of Thadi Oumezdi and Toni Maderbacher were
clearing up any balls and challenges that came their way. In the
65th minute though, after a corner was cleared, the team didn’t get
out quick enough and gave too much room to an Upesciems midfielder,
who shot from outside the area. Williams was alert and saved it but
rebounded to another Upesciems player, Williams made another fine
save to keep it 0-0.
Riga United had a couple of more chances from set pieces, which
were narrowly missed, including one attempt which hit the
crossbar. The goal eventually came in the 78th minute as a
pass which looped into the box fell to Schauer whose well taken
shot came off the inside of the post.
This was the last big chance in the match as Riga “shut-up shop”
and there was no way through for Upesciems.
Based on their second half performance, the victory was well
deserved. The positives are that it was another three points
and another clean sheet for Riga. They will not all be attractive
wins and sometimes, the best teams win ugly.
With this victory, they now move up to 6th place in the table,
level on points with Amoko/02.
After the match, the RUSG caught up with Mo Awada to find out his
thoughts on the game. This is what he had to say: “It wasn't a
vintage performance but we got the job done and bagged an important
three points. The first half we were particularly off the pace and
let Upesciems control the game, however they never really caused us
problems.
A few harsh words were spoken at halftime and the second half we
started much brighter. We were able to get the passing game going
and finally got the breakthrough that we deserved.
Defensively we were superb and once again Graham made two
outstanding saves to keep us in the game.
Man of the match: Paul Gloria Andrez.
He was hard working throughout the entire game and there was a lot
of no-nonsense defending from him. He marshalled the defence and
called the game well as captain
A special mention should go to Toni Maderbacher, who did a great
job in the centre of defence. He won every tackle and came
close to scoring on two occasions from set pieces.
This was the last game for the life of the club, ‘The Doc’ Paul
Gloria Andrez, who was given the ‘sending off-bumps’ after the game
by his fellow players. His attitude and hard work not only
throughout the game, but also his time with the club, hasn’t gone
unnoticed by Mo Awada: “I would really like to show my appreciation
for Paul, who as a club man, has been fantastic over the past two
or three years. I thought it was a fitting end to have him captain
the team to victory and a clean sheet. I'll miss him a lot
and I wish Paul the very best in the future.