Auda snatches late draw against Riga after trailing 0-2
In the Latvian top-flight football league, Auda came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 away at Riga, with Andrew Appiah scoring both of Auda's goals.
In Friday's round-30 match of the Tonybet Latvian football top division, hosts Riga were held to a 2-2 (1-0) draw by Auda despite leading by two goals for most of the game.
Riga opened the scoring in the 38th minute when Zinedins Ulads' corner kick curled straight into the top right corner of the net. In the 66th minute, the hosts doubled their lead in unusual fashion: substitute Kaju Martins, attempting to tap the ball into an empty net from a low cross by Andres Osorio, missed the ball, but it deflected off his foot, looped over Auda goalkeeper Nils Puriņš and dropped into the top left corner.
Auda refused to give up. In the 76th minute, Andrew Appiah, running with the ball along the edge of the penalty area after a pass from Jevgeņijs Miņins, struck a shot that hit the post before going in, cutting the deficit to 1-2. Three minutes into stoppage time, Riga defender Baba Musa played a weak back-pass to goalkeeper Frenks Orols; Appiah intercepted it near the edge of the box, rounded the goalkeeper and scored his second goal of the match to level it at 2-2.
The result means Riga have now gone four consecutive league matches without a win, having previously drawn with RFS and Daugavpils and lost to Liepāja. The club remains three points behind league leaders RFS.
Auda, who will also face Riga in the Latvian Cup final on 20 November, had beaten Grobiņa in their previous league match. Midfielder Husaini Ibrahim was unavailable due to a one-match suspension. Before this game, Riga had won all four previous meetings between the two clubs this season.
In the standings, RFS lead with 70 points from 28 matches, Riga sit second with 67 points from 29 games, and Auda are third with 57 points. The season's final, 36th round is scheduled for 8 November.
