Cuesta 6 - 3 C.d.forjaz (367375976)

Clouds darkened the skies at Cejas Arena as 35375 spectators turned up for the match. Tonček Dežman was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ferry de With and Roberto Sarlanga. Cuesta decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Starters: Ugarte - Kallestad, Vilotijević, Lierneux - Vega Collantes, Collu, Muralla, Isidro, Beneitez - Sahli, Pinstrup.

C.d.forjaz tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. The following players took the field: Flanquart - Biddau, Perucci, Ahn - Martínez, Stoica, Özbeken, Vlaychev - Habsburg, Romero, Westergård.

It seemed as though Cuesta considered the game won before even taking the field, which resulted in a very uninspired start to the game. C.d.forjaz seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. With 13 minutes played, the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending. V. Westergård put the ball away for 0 - 1. 14 minutes into the match, Cuesta's F. Collu maneuvered his way around the opposition on the left flank, delighting the crowd with his twists and turns. The effort paid off as the ball found the back of the net, evening the score at 1 - 1. C.d.forjaz's K. Özbeken was shown a yellow card after 19 minutes for slicing down an opponent. O. Kallestad was the unlucky victim and couldn't continue the game, so Cuesta's J. Cornadó had to come off the bench. C.d.forjaz were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 25 minutes allowed P. Biddau to score for C.d.forjaz. The scoreboard now read 1 - 2. J. Cornadó was just a finger's breadth away from an equaliser for Cuesta with a strike from the left, but A. Flanquart managed to ward the shot off for a corner. The visitors' P. Biddau took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 34 minutes into the match. 1 - 3 for C.d.forjaz. Confident in their lead, C.d.forjaz's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. It took several tries, but Cuesta managed to break through on the left after 36 minutes, getting the ball to F. Pinstrup who easily reduced the lead to make the score 2 - 3. The crowd roared in delight as G. Isidro finished off a spectacular series of passes through the middle to even the score for Cuesta 37 minutes into the match. 3 - 3. The teams went for the halftime break at 3 - 3. Possession in this half belonged to Cuesta, who controlled the ball 60 percent of the time.

Cuesta had clearly expected an easier match. With the result still undecided as the second half started, there was a marked improvement in attitude - although the coach had clearly hoped for more. After a fine move down the middle F. Sahli nearly gave the home side a goal after 47 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to F. Pinstrup, but the Cuesta player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 4 - 3! After 50 minutes, Cuesta's F. Sahli fell awkwardly, but was determined to stay in the match. That's the spirit! Things were deteriorating for the away team as Cuesta scored another to make it 5 - 3 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for E. Muralla after 59 minutes. Cheers filled the stadium as E. Muralla broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 6 - 3 to Cuesta. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Cuesta, with 63 percent of the ball.

Most important Cuesta player was M. Vega Collantes. S. Vilotijević turned in a dismal performance, however. S. Romero performed admirably for C.d.forjaz. On the other hand, T. Stoica's play was disheartening. The match ends 6 - 3.