BULLS 4 - 5 Grifone (366397491)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 12950 had shown up at RED BULLS ARENA for the match. Mario Schönkamp was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Roelof Winger and Fuco Caride. A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for BULLS. The following players took the field: Wachna - Grolik, Kąsek, Töyrälä - Becerril, Mina, Karlsson, Carstensen - Kiep, Lehne, Stompé.

Grifone decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Wittram - Amigoni, Ozdarski, Hue, Poggiolesi - Pocztowski, Giménez, Valt, Ely - Trifunović, Quère.

It was an obvious ambition of BULLS to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. The wings were the focus of most of Grifone's attacks today. The coach of Grifone wanted to try to change things around after 1 minutes, and gave new tactical instructions. With 16 minutes played, the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending. A. Poggiolesi put the ball away for 0 - 1. 17 minutes in, Grifone's P. Valt received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. A loud groan was heard from the fans of BULLS, as W. Kiep left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. S. Silva took his place on the field. M. Wachna was handed the BULLS captain's armband. Given a free kick close to the byline, Grifone tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let J. Quère slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 0 - 2, 24 minutes into the game. With 34 minutes played, Grifone's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to W. Ozdarski he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 0 - 3. Ð. Trifunović of Grifone took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 36 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 0 - 4. Attacking on the wings was the choice for Grifone, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. C. Ely increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 0 - 5. Halftime score was 0 - 5. BULLS claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 55 percent.

After 46 minutes, Grifone felt secure enough to make a tactical change. J. Quère and Ð. Trifunović assumed each others positions on the field. A misunderstanding between the visitors' keeper H. Wittram and his left defence could have resulted in a goal for BULLS, but S. Silva's finish was way too lame. It took several tries, but BULLS managed to break through on the left after 56 minutes, getting the ball to H. Becerril who easily reduced the lead to make the score 1 - 5. After 62 minutes, S. Stompé had a good opportunity to reduce the scoreline for BULLS with a chance created through the middle, but wasn't cool enough. The ball went miles over the bar. While defending the Grifone lead, W. Ozdarski got a new role. 70 minutes in the game, his coach ordered him to change positions with F. Hue. 75 minutes into the match, BULLS's J. Mina collected a ball sent down the right and put it in the back of the net, narrowing the score to 2 - 5. 81 minutes into the game BULLS broke through on the left wing and K. Kąsek managed to reduce the lead to 3 - 5. BULLS's S. Silva got the home crowd going when he finished off a left wing charge, reducing the away team's lead to 4 - 5. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by BULLS, with 55 percent of the ball.

Most important BULLS player was S. Stompé. J. Mina on the other hand, had a terrible day. A. Amigoni performed admirably for Grifone. F. Hue was a disappointment, however. The match ends 4 - 5.