Swords 7 - 0 Mayenne (362903424)

3846 spectators arrived at Swordsdome, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Jay van Zwol was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Nicolas Mauguin and Donald Võsandi. A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Swords. They fielded: Paixão - Markies, Boender, van Breukhoven - Campomagnani, Valdés, Bailer, Mistiri - Domont, Pechatkin, Twaróg.

Mayenne tactics involved an interesting 5-4-1 combination. The following players took the field: Chambe - Louche, Châtellier, Talon, Abdolvand, Champion - Gonet, Moins, Rodrigues, Ben Younes - Zaghoueni.

Mayenne clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. It was almost a goal for Swords following B. Bailer's good header after a corner, it went just over the bar though. Swords created a good opportunity to score 20 minutes into the match when I. Twaróg's hooked ball from the left created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors' defenders had a hard time clearing the ball. Mayenne's F. Rodrigues was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 27 minutes. F. Pechatkin caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 39 minutes. This gave Swords the 1 - 0 lead. 40 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as H. Valdés broke through, making the score 2 - 0 for Swords. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Swords to 3 - 0 as S. Domont finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. By now, the players in Swords felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. It was 3 - 0 at the break. Swords had most of the ball, with 72 percent of possession.

After 55 minutes Swords's F. Campomagnani contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. B. Bailer squirmed through their central defence after 59 minutes, increasing the lead to 4 - 0. With 81 minutes played, Swords put themselves up 5 - 0 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to F. Pechatkin, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Swords's S. Domont increasing the lead to 6 - 0. F. Campomagnani acted with superior experience when, 83 minutes into the match, he predicted a pass, intercepted it and then finished off with a goal. 7 - 0 for Swords! Mayenne mounted an inspired counterattack down the right wing after 87 minutes, but B. Ben Younes was unable to convert from short range. Swords claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 74 percent.

Swords's top performer was clearly F. Pechatkin. However, F. Markies made a disastrous appearance. Mayenne's best player was J. Zaghoueni. A. Abdolvand was a disappointment, however. The match ends 7 - 0.