PLOIESTI 1 - 0 Bistra (365378338)

Dark skies made the crowd of 11348 at STB PLOIESTI Stadium a little nervous, but the rain held off. Juan Gancedo was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jan Ericsson and Yiannis Parmenidis. PLOIESTI had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players took the field: Sibişan - Petre, Drăguţ, Găurean, Purcsi - Ţepeş, Degan, Dumitrică, Jusztin - Login, Coşeraru.

A 5-5-0 alignment was the formation of choice for Bistra. Lineup: Cerci - Taufenburg, Al-Qatby, Violante, Gagea, Sigheartău - Marinache, Călugăr, Borbei, Lasut, Grigoraş -.

PLOIESTI clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. Bistra were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. Players in Bistra heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. As C. Sigheartău had, completely unprovoked, swept the legs out from under an opponent in front of a linesman, the referee gave the Bistra player a red card without batting an eyelid. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 16 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from F. Ţepeş, who scored with a stunning volley following a cross from the right wing. F. Ţepeş could have increased the lead after 26 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. With 30 minutes gone, PLOIESTI had a free kick in a decent position. Despite this being a great chance for a shot, they tried a cheeky move intended to bypass the defence. However, A. Degan did not manage to connect with it cleanly and the ball went out. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave H. Gagea from Bistra a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 37 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! PLOIESTI were forced into a substitution as M. Drăguţ couldn't continue due to some rough treatment, forcing D. Damean to come in off the bench. D. Damean was handed the PLOIESTI captain's armband. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. PLOIESTI claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 55 percent.

P. Jusztin tried using a burst of speed to get past his defender after 67 minutes, but it takes more than that to get past fast A. Taufenburg. A. Degan should probably have put his team up another goal after 69 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by K. Cerci kept the visitors in the game. It was obvious that team PLOIESTI had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. G. Coşeraru had a fantastic opportunity to put PLOIESTI up another goal 77 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. PLOIESTI's E. Dumitrică saw his fine effort strike the top of the bar following some good work up the middle by his teammates after 81 minutes. The game was close to savage at times, and Bistra's H. Gagea received a second yellow card after 82 minutes; his ticket out of the game. PLOIESTI had most of the ball, with 65 percent of possession.

PLOIESTI's best player was D. Login. D. Damean was a disappointment, however. Bistra's top performer was clearly A. Taufenburg. On the other hand, F. Lasut's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 0.