Ventspils dash Dudelange dream

FK Ventspils recovered from conceding an early goal to complete a comfortable passage through to the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round with a 3-1 win at F91 Dudelange.

Da Mota strike
The Latvian champions' aggregate lead was reduced to 3-1 when Daniel Da Mota opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour but any hopes of a turnaround in Luxembourg diminished when Vitālijs Astafjevs levelled 12 minutes later. Second-half goals from Andrejs Butriks and Pavels Mihadjuks confirmed the visitors' success and a tie against FC BATE Borisov.

Experienced Astafjevs
Ventspils had required three goals in the final eleven minutes to settle the first leg and they were slow out of the blocks again as Da Mota sowed the seeds for an unlikely comeback. But the wisdom of 38-year-old Astafjevs, who has an incredible 152 caps for Latvia, quickly calmed any nerves in Roman Grygorchuk's ranks. Butriks, on target in the first meeting of the sides, made it 2-1 on 57 minutes and Mihadjuks completed the scoring ten minutes later while the home team's misery was finalised when Emmanuel Françoise was sent off shortly after.