Runners 7 - 1 advance (367424432)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 19953 at Rachael Stadium today. Amadeusz Skubacz was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Alexander Collingwood and Fernando Orner. Runners tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players took the field: Monhait - Sparwein, Petrov, Guercolata - Modafferi, Crevecoeur, Vermiesch, Greiller, Balogh - Halldorsson, Galistinos.

A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for advance. Starters: Lopes - Pussinen, Lodberg, Frasse, Beligan - Cox, Ulset, Pinto, Segreto, Lafuente Manso de Zuñiga - Damyanski.

It was obvious that advance were using their pressing skill as their primary tactic. One of many good crosses from G. Cox on the wing was received and skillfully taken care of by V. Damyanski, who scored for advance. 0 - 1 After 15 minutes of play, S. Galistinos equalised for Runners after an elegant attack from the right. Runners's S. Galistinos tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders. Runners took the lead after 26 minutes as a result of L. Crevecoeur's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 2 - 1. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. Z. Balogh squirmed through their central defence after 28 minutes, increasing the lead to 3 - 1. S. Galistinos was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was blocked by the keeper. However, Runners's Z. Balogh managed to get hold of the rebound and tucked the ball into the empty net. 4 - 1 Runners's A. Guercolata saw his fine effort strike the top of the bar following some good work up the middle by his teammates after 38 minutes. It was 4 - 1 at the break. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Runners, with 60 percent of the ball.

A. Petrov could have increased the lead after 66 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. 69 minutes into the game, J. Frasse had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came I. Bieitez. advance's right side looked dangerous after 72 minutes, as C. Beligan broke through. M. Monhait continued to stifle them, however, as he made the save look easy. S. Galistinos increased the lead for Runners to 5 - 1, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! 81 minutes into the match A. Petrov put Runners ahead 6 - 1 with a truly marvelous free kick. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Runners lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Runners's L. Crevecoeur increasing the lead to 7 - 1. Possession in this half belonged to Runners, who controlled the ball 59 percent of the time.

Runners's best player was L. Crevecoeur. However, M. Monhait made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating advance player was without a doubt B. Lodberg. On the other hand, I. Bieitez's play was disheartening. The match ends 7 - 1.