Dragons 1 - 3 Melbourne (371419088)

It was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 17000 that came out to Dusk Stadium. Nilton Bacamarte was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Charles Revert and Kent Wahlby. Dragons started off with a 5-3-2 lineup. They fielded: da Vila - Zanev, Gambrill, Komorowski, Lappin, Abitbol - Wensink, Đức Minh, Saygın - Waldring, Mutumui.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Melbourne. Lineup: Paiva - Stravocheris, Jousmäki, Woe, de Beuker - Hernesniemi, McGrady, Lančić, Brener - Teodorof, Juntumaa.

Dragons clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. For their match strategy, Melbourne had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. With 15 minutes played I. Zanev almost put the home team one ahead on a cross coming in from the right, but the shot went just wide. With the clock showing 23 minutes played, a great pass from the defensive line of Melbourne resulted in a counterattack that was smoothly brought under control by D. McGrady in the centre of the opposition's penalty area, but his finish went high. Melbourne took the lead after 31 minutes making the score 0 - 1. N. Teodorof placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. E. Waldring was just a finger's breadth away from an equaliser for Dragons with a strike from the left, but F. Paiva managed to ward the shot off for a corner. 42 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 2 as K. Jousmäki finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. Halftime score was 0 - 2. Dragons enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 53 percent of possession.

At 51 minutes into the game, Dragons's E. Waldring deftly knocked the ball home after an impressive run down the left, reducing the visitors' lead to 1 - 2. Usually a powerful player on the field, K. Jousmäki looked kind of pale and tired under the hot sun. Almost all the way down to the corner flag, Melbourne's Y. Brener somehow managed to get a perfect pass into the middle, impossible to miss for M. Juntumaa, who struck for 1 - 3. N. Teodorof wanted to play on, but the Melbourne coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 70 minutes into the game by M. Maitena. The Melbourne players could smell victory in the air. E. Hernesniemi wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for S. Morgan after 70 minutes. Y. Brener wasn't much help defensively. His energy-consuming forward runs proved quite costly in the oppressive heat. Dragons's K. Đức Minh managed a superb strike from the left after 75 minutes that would have left goalkeeper F. Paiva without a chance, had it not hit the post. 76 minutes into the game Melbourne managed a counterattack, but R. de Beuker took a soft shot from the left flank that was easy prey for the alert keeper. F. Mutumui enjoyed the sunshine and demonstrated his stunning technique over and over again. Melbourne were able to mount several counterattacks, such as the impressive one after 85 minutes, but Y. Brener lofted a free kick over the crossbar. Neither team were able to dominate possession this half.

Dragons's top performer was clearly F. Mutumui. H. Saygın turned in a dismal performance, however. Melbourne's best player was D. McGrady. However, K. Jousmäki made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 3.