SESTRI 5 - 0 pavò (319822775)

Dark skies made the crowd of 18075 at C N SESTRI Arena a little nervous, but the rain held off. Dawid Leja was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jarl Lyhne and Tomer Ginat. SESTRI had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. Lineup: Lara - Molena, Korlin, Albrink - Beglov, Usodemar, Iversen, de Zwaan - van Eijk, Kavur, Perricone.

pavò decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. Starters: Sartur - L'hoir, Haber, Demirsoy, Bozhkov - Fernández, Almog, Pach, Rawa - Rietman, Kofoed.

pavò clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. P. Sarv was called on to replace SESTRI's M. Albrink after 4 minutes following a nasty collision. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave B. Kofoed from pavò a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 28 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! A loud groan was heard from the fans of SESTRI, as R. de Zwaan left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. E. Abate took his place on the field. 32 minutes of the match played, and a comedy of errors by the home side gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but Z. Demirsoy, after finding himself dashing down on goal from the left with only the keeper to beat, sliced his shot horribly wide. They were singing the praises of H. Iversen 34 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 1 - 0 to SESTRI. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in SESTRI's A. Perricone increasing the lead to 2 - 0. SESTRI put in a good effort on the right, but J. Usodemar saw his volley fly wide of the mark 43 minutes into the game. Halftime score was 2 - 0. SESTRI claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 61 percent.

A foul called during a pavò counterattack resulted in a great chance to score, but T. Fernández's shot rattled off the post. Given a free kick close to the byline, SESTRI tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let A. Perricone slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 3 - 0, 62 minutes into the game. After this, you could see that the players of SESTRI were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. SESTRI's B. Kavur got himself booked for a foul. 68 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as T. van Eijk broke through, making the score 4 - 0 for SESTRI. Some things can only be learned through experience, and E. Abate should take his lesson to heart after nearly gifting pavò a goal with 72 minutes of the match played. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. B. Kavur squirmed through their central defence after 76 minutes, increasing the lead to 5 - 0. After 77 minutes pavò's K. Rawa contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. SESTRI enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 63 percent of possession.

A. Perricone performed admirably for SESTRI. P. Sarv turned in a dismal performance, however. pavò's best player was T. Fernández. G. Sartur was a disappointment, however. The match ends 5 - 0.