Madona 3 - 5 Spider (393041232)

Clouds darkened the skies at Arena Madona as 23600 spectators turned up for the match. Jarl Fjällind was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Diego López Valdivielso and Anton Fjordside. Madona tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. The following players took the field: Retka - Feenstra, Catanzaro, Bogo, Dalla Valle - Schwartz, Lee, Rosenqvist, Ferrol - Rousseau, Muzzio.

Spider decided to use a 2-5-3 set up. The following players had been chosen: Tkhir - Grīnbergs, Plūme - Gomide, Streltsov, Merkulovich, Boghe, Granberg - Pielau, Venckuss, Omino.

For their match strategy, Madona had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. Spider were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. The terraces were silenced after 16 minutes when Spider's G. Omino put the guests ahead 0 - 1, following an attack on the right. 24 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 2 as B. Pielau finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. Madona didn't give in and with 25 minutes played E. Bogo was able to make the score 1 - 2 after an attack on the right. After 30 minutes a well-practised indirect free kick routine by Spider was easily anticipated by the defenders. The players forward were so well marked, they were left with few viable options. Attacking on the wings was the choice for Spider, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from L. Granberg after 32 minutes, and prevented Spider from going up another goal. Madona bypassed the midfield with their counterattack, leading to a free kick goal by E. Bogo for 2 - 2. The guests took the lead 37 minutes into the match, after a right-side attack resulted in B. Pielau scoring to make it 2 - 3. Spider's I. Plūme left the field after 42 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was A. Dikel. R. Schwartz of Madona received a yellow card after 43 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. 2 - 3 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Spider, with 64 percent of the ball.

K. Grīnbergs left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 46 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. M. Auziņš was the replacement. Spider were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. After 51 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed B. Pielau to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 2 - 4. That made three goals for B. Pielau and he was marked down for the hat trick. 65 minutes into the match, Madona's R. Muzzio collected a ball sent down the right and put it in the back of the net, narrowing the score to 3 - 4. With 70 minutes played, A. Venckuss nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. After 71 minutes, Madona surprised their opponents with a breakaway counter attack. The defenders had to resort to a foul to stop it. The free kick that followed was a clever indirect effort that almost succeeded, but the defence read the situation well and the intended recipient was left ruing what might have been. After the ball was lifted in from the left, B. Pielau was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 77 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. Some fine movement on the left led to a Spider goal after 78 minutes, making it 3 - 5. G. Omino was noted down as the scorer. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, R. Lee got himself booked. The manager of Madona was not happy. Spider enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 62 percent of possession.

Madona's top performer was clearly R. Muzzio. O. Ferrol was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Spider player was without a doubt B. Pielau. On the other hand, A. Tkhir's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 5.