Needs 2 - 6 City (280248228)

19268 spectators had come to The Bosman Stadium this cloudy day. Martin-Ortwin Lommer was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Sulhi Behra and Sébastien Poisson. Needs tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. Lineup: Blösl - Rissoson, Bolgiu, Koontz, Håkansson - Hebeda, Bruvik, Manai, Mouthaan, Tomescu - Pratini.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for City. The following players had been chosen: Frezza - Pucci, Zohar, Marques - Shera, Manneroja, Thorup, Escos, Janele - Pekić, Basanta.

City seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. After 11 minutes of play, A. Pratini 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, P. Basanta got through the home side's central line of defence, rolling in the equaliser to make it 1 - 1. Many thought P. Håkansson ought to have been awarded a penalty 33 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around B. Frezza after a determined run through the middle. The visiting H. Janele was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 39 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 1 - 2 was the score. K. Koontz caught everyone by surprise with a unexpected volley after 41 minutes. C. Tomescu was perfectly placed to take advantage of the play, but unfortunately, he was as surprised as anyone and couldn't finish for Needs. Given a free kick in a difficult position after 43 minutes, City tried a variation that they had practised in training. The kick was sent into the area just in front of the keeper. However, the defence were on their toes and allowed no space for a finish. 1 - 2 was the score after the first half. City enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 55 percent of possession.

The crowd was on its feet 47 minutes into the match, as Needs's A. Pratini found himself unmarked in front of the goal after a dash up the left side. He calmly put away the 2 - 2 equaliser. City took the lead 53 minutes into the game, making the score 2 - 3 after some elegant movement down the middle. R. Escos was the scorer. City bypassed the midfield with their counterattack, leading to a free kick goal by H. Janele for 2 - 4. The referee showed City's T. Shera the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The home crowd cheered when, after 82 minutes, H. Janele's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. The goal for 2 - 5 was a funny story: after 85 minutes the seemingly nonchalant lob from City's T. Shera landed at the feet of M. Pekić who sidefooted it into the net - nice goal! The players of City now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. 86 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 2 - 6 as P. Basanta finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. Possession in this half belonged to City, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

Needs's top performer was clearly A. Pratini. V. Rissoson was a disappointment, however. P. Basanta performed admirably for City. A. Marques turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 6.