StrakeKine 5 - 2 portos02 (373344014)

Clouds darkened the skies at Strake Park as 23483 spectators turned up for the match. Emmanuel Audouin was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Mikael Svensson and Nicolas Mahé. StrakeKine tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Berthelon - Ulijn, Moréno, Schaus - Oğul, Lebret, Dawe, Bolard, Aerts - Tworus, Icoaga.

portos02 had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. They fielded: Jaroń - Méndez, Rink, Baray - Uzay, Marella, Malevinskiy, Wulk - Silva, Rairán, Fisheku.

StrakeKine tried to focus their attacks down the middle. portos02 mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. A foul after 8 minutes resulted in a free kick. L. Ulijn cannonballed it, giving the home team the lead 1 - 0. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, S. Bolard got himself booked. The manager of StrakeKine was not happy. J. Icoaga had a fantastic opportunity to put StrakeKine up another goal 33 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. The score became 2 - 0 at 35 minutes into the game, when StrakeKine were given a penalty which L. Ulijn blasted straight down the middle giving the keeper no chance! Confident in their lead, StrakeKine's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. portos02's M. Uzay left the field after 36 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was G. Patti. After 41 minutes, StrakeKine sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. In what looked like a well-rehearsed move, the ball was headed backwards and reached N. Lebret, who had plenty of space to place a well aimed shot - 3 - 0. 3 - 0 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by StrakeKine, with 67 percent of the ball.

D. Fisheku of portos02 seemed to be floating in the air as he elegantly headed in to make the score 3 - 1 after a corner kick that was nicely executed by N. Rairán. After 56 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by S. Bolard might have resulted in another goal for StrakeKine. However, K. Jaroń made a spectacular save. With 57 minutes played, StrakeKine put themselves up 4 - 1 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to J. Icoaga, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. The StrakeKine players could smell victory in the air. F. Moréno wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for E. Linet after 65 minutes. Content with how the game was proceeding, the StrakeKine coach let M. Aranyos-Rakosi replace H. Oğul after 65 minutes. J. Aerts wanted to play on, but the StrakeKine coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 65 minutes into the game by B. Bacetić. portos02 managed to reduce the score to 4 - 2 as V. Silva finished off a well-played combination from the left, easily carving through the defence. Cheers filled the stadium as B. Bacetić broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 5 - 2 to StrakeKine. portos02's V. Malevinskiy was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 84 minutes. StrakeKine enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 67 percent of possession.

The most dominating StrakeKine player was without a doubt J. Icoaga. N. Berthelon was a disappointment, however. Most important portos02 player was N. Rairán. G. Patti turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 5 - 2.