Bjørnslag 3 - 4 Olavs Menn (362438252)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 67478 to Elland Alley. Ivan Subachev was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Chuan Anada and Aalt van Helmond. Bjørnslag decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. They fielded: Kożuszek - Iversen, Lundher, Ouertani - Langhelle, Kongsul, Pamukkale, Sipos, Gjelsten - Falkenbrant, Vasić.

Olavs Menn tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Stensby - Bakken, Mellemsæter, Talberg - Pettersen, Josefsson, Klaussen, Stangeland, Martinussen - Handeland, Krosby.

Bjørnslag saw most attack opportunities on the wings. Olavs Menn were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. Olavs Menn's E. Talberg could have put the guests one up after 10 minutes after chasing a through ball from the right, but T. Kożuszek was as fast as a snake, grabbing the ball from under his nose. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave Y. Pamukkale from Bjørnslag a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 11 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! After 20 minutes of play, V. Vasić gave the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. The visitors didn't give in and, after 21 minutes, C. Stangeland got through the home side's central line of defence, rolling in the equaliser to make it 1 - 1. Y. Pamukkale knew he was in trouble after hacking down an opponent. Despite his pleading with the referee, the Bjørnslag player was shown a second yellow card and dismissed from the game. 35 minutes into the game, F. Bakken almost gave the visitors the lead, as he clipped a delicate lob over the keeper, but the ball glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 1. Olavs Menn claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 63 percent.

A badly positioned defensive formation on a free kick after 68 minutes led to Olavs Menn's C. Stangeland giving the visitors the lead 1 - 2. It was obvious that Bjørnslag had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. With the crowd on their feet chanting wildly, some great moves down the right hand side after 74 minutes gave Bjørnslag a wonderful opportunity to level the score, and F. Falkenbrant stepped up to the challenge. 2 - 2 75 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a Bjørnslag substitution. G. Schläpfer came on for P. Kongsul. As the captain was no longer on the pitch, G. Schläpfer took over the role of being the Bjørnslag captain. The terraces were silenced after 84 minutes when Olavs Menn's C. Stangeland put the guests ahead 2 - 3, following an attack on the right. That was his third goal of the match - a hat trick for C. Stangeland. With 86 minutes played, F. Bakken of Olavs Menn fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. A. Krosby came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over T. Kożuszek but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. G. Schläpfer showed the skills that make him a real crowd pleaser as he, after 88 minutes, wove through the guests' entire central defence and put the 3 - 3 equaliser away. Olavs Menn enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 55 percent of possession.

As neither team was able to break the deadlock before the end of regular play, the teams took to the field again for extra time. Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 94 minutes into the match, and A. Krosby wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 3 - 4 for the visitors. Game over, Olavs Menn win! Bjørnslag's best player was G. Schläpfer. However, K. Iversen made a disastrous appearance. Most important Olavs Menn player was A. Handeland. J. Martinussen was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 4.