Imperial, 0 - 6 Sandton (333707420)

Dark skies made the crowd of 16457 at General Palafox a little nervous, but the rain held off. Paco Bombín was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Yohann Dumesnil and Manuel Robredo. Imperial, had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Thompson - Fornós, Rebonen, Bacelar - Pratarolo, Ximénez Cisneros, Mahlamaa, Fernández, Sáez Adán - Gorostizu, Yousif.

Sandton decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: van der Burg - Trovarelli, Gülçehre, Bajo Fernández - Major, Ichau, Mölsä, Sánchez, Tripalo - Garrido, Fagà.

The wings were the focus of most of Imperial,'s attacks today. Sandton's R. Bajo Fernández gave the visitors a 0 - 1 lead after 17 minutes with a superb strike from the right. Sandton's F. Garrido got himself booked for a foul. With 26 minutes played, Sandton put themselves up 0 - 2 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was F. Garrido. After 31 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave F. Garrido a chance to increase the lead for Sandton, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 0 - 3. D. Bacelar of Imperial, received a yellow card after 38 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. A drive down the left side allowed K. Major to get in close and score another goal for Sandton after 39 minutes, taking the score to 0 - 4. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Sandton lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. R. Vågen was called on to replace Imperial,'s J. Gorostizu after 42 minutes following a nasty collision. S. Gülçehre received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 43 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 5. The Sandton fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. 0 - 5 was the halftime score. Sandton had most of the ball, with 66 percent of possession.

A. Tripalo 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 P. Thompson but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. After 76 minutes, Sandton's A. Tripalo burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 6. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave M. Ichau from Sandton a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 77 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! I. Sánchez was, after 78 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors' lead with a well placed diving header after the ball had looped into the centre, but the home side's keeper P. Thompson made the save. Sandton's S. Gülçehre was shown a yellow card after 82 minutes for slicing down an opponent. The player down was D. Ximénez Cisneros. The Imperial, bench looked worried for a while, but in the end he managed to get up. After the ball was lifted in from the left, M. Ichau was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 84 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. With 87 minutes played, F. Garrido 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. Possession in this half belonged to Sandton, who controlled the ball 68 percent of the time.

Imperial,'s top performer was clearly R. Vågen. D. Bacelar turned in a dismal performance, however. The most dominating Sandton player was without a doubt F. Garrido. R. Bajo Fernández on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 6.