HOULE 0 - 6 Patriotes (393242776)

Dark skies made the crowd of 598 at FC Stadium a little nervous, but the rain held off. Julio Sancha was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Nino Krauss and Dominique Ruiter. A 2-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for HOULE. They fielded: Singh - Rosflod, Rowlands - Gagné, Clayton, Gaumond, Richardson - Poenariu, Fernán Jiménez, Azurmendi.

Patriotes started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. Starters: Tavus - Ritsch, Crawford, Floridia, Ghezzi, Hastings - Vaillancourt, Angius, Tantsura, Wedderburn - Groels.

HOULE used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. 5 minutes into the game, HOULE seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a weak level of organisation. With 22 minutes gone, E. Tantsura suddenly found himself completely free on the right wing when a counterattack by Patriotes caught their opponents by surprise. Only a great save by the opposing keeper prevented him from scoring. D. Wedderburn came close to putting the visiting team one up 33 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but U. Singh managed to tip the ball to a corner. 0 - 1 was the score with 34 minutes played, after A. Floridia cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Patriotes. After 36 minutes, Patriotes's D. Wedderburn burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 2. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 2. Patriotes had most of the ball, with 64 percent of possession.

The HOULE players spent the break getting a rerun of the team's tactical organisation and regained a solid organisation when the game started again. HOULE players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. The visitors' D. Wedderburn took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 69 minutes into the match. 0 - 3 for Patriotes. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Patriotes lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. Patriotes increased their lead after 73 minutes when I. Vaillancourt broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 4, much to the home crowd's dismay. After 76 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as HOULE found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to poor. 78 minutes in, HOULE's T. Rosflod received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. After 81 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for A. Crawford who increased Patriotes's lead to 0 - 5. After 82 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave H. Groels a chance to increase the lead for Patriotes, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 6. A misunderstanding between the visitors' keeper E. Tavus and his left defence could have resulted in a goal for HOULE, but S. Gagné's finish was way too lame. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave J. Gaumond from HOULE a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 86 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Patriotes enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 72 percent of possession.

J. Gaumond performed admirably for HOULE. U. Singh was a disappointment, however. Patriotes's top performer was clearly A. Floridia. However, D. Wedderburn made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 0 - 6.