Following the decisive playoffs, where Grobiņas SC/LFS secured their place in Latvia’s top-tier Virslīga over two matches, the head coaches of both teams – Viktors Dobrecovs and Artūrs Zakreševskis shared their thoughts.
Viktors Dobrecovs (Grobiņas SC/LFS):
There was never any doubt in my mind that we would win because it was clear the team was well prepared. Yes, we had a streak of 12 losses, and I told the guys in the locker room it would’ve been better if it had been an 11-game streak. I asked them to imagine this as a boxing match – 11 rounds lost, but now it’s the 12th round, and it’s all or nothing. Maybe they’ll corner us and land some punches, but we need to know how to get out of that corner and hit back.The emotions are good right now – we’ve celebrated with a bottle of champagne. Now it’s time for a well-deserved vacation, some rest, and then we’ll gradually begin preparing for the next season.
Artūrs Zakreševskis (JDFS Alberts):
It so happened that I earned a red card. Emotions got the better of me, but when basic safety rules aren’t observed, it’s hard to stay calm. There was a situation where two players collided and fell to the ground, clearly injured, and I had the fourth referee standing right next to me, the assistant referee on the line, and the main referee on the field. None of the three reacted, and that’s when I lost my temper a bit.Grobiņa played their season in Virslīga, where the game tempo and thinking are much faster. When they switched to that higher gear, there were moments when we simply fell behind. As you saw, we played with only homegrown Latvian players. Many of them started their careers here at Alberts and are still with us. We’re committed to developing our talents and helping them grow to the level of the Virslīga.
Every year, some of our players move on. For example, this year, Emīls Evelons signed with FK Liepāja, and our goalkeeper, Henrijs Auseklis, went to Italy. We don’t hold our players back just to achieve our own goal of reaching Virslīga. Yes, we want to make it to the top league, it didn’t work out this year, but we’ll try again next season.