SPARTAK 1 - 5 Tiligul (374444223)

12000 punters turned up at FC SPARTAK MOSKOW 19 Arena, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Igor Wiechecki was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Frank Yngvesson and Christer Palmblom. SPARTAK had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. Lineup: Buzdugan - Gargalîc, Nuzhdin, Vicol, Onică - Iacubeţ, Mînăscurtă, Boubălan, Matcaş - Druc, Golban.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Tiligul. The following players took the field: Gruzov - Sochircă, Damian, Hadîrcă, Ostapciuc - Frosinescu, Boaghe, Danilianţ, Grîu - Bolfă, Timets.

Tiligul's counterattacks created a good chance for P. Timets on the right after 4 minutes, but he could only look on with dismay as his strike rebounded off the crossbar. With 14 minutes played, the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending. A. Frosinescu put the ball away for 0 - 1. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave D. Iacubeţ from SPARTAK a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 16 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! L. Ostapciuc's knee will be throbbing for days, but thankfully for Tiligul, he bravely continued in the match. The referee signalled a penalty 19 minutes into the game following an offence which looked like it was outside the box. G. Sochircă knocked it home to make the score 0 - 2. SPARTAK caught their opponents out with a clever counterattack down the right wing 34 minutes into the match. N. Golban was able to finish off the move - 1 - 2. SPARTAK's M. Nuzhdin was shown a yellow card after 36 minutes for slicing down an opponent. A loud groan was heard from the fans of Tiligul, as G. Sochircă left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. R. Martînovschi took his place on the field. The Tiligul captaincy was handed to Ş. Boaghe. Tiligul's P. Timets was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 38 minutes. Halftime score was 1 - 2. Tiligul claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 59 percent.

Some fine movement on the left led to a Tiligul goal after 65 minutes, making it 1 - 3. D. Danilianţ was noted down as the scorer. The home crowd cheered when, after 66 minutes, C. Bolfă's charge up the middle resulted in the keeper making one of his best saves of the day. 69 minutes into the game, Tiligul were awarded a penalty and N. Damian was able to increase the visitors' lead to 1 - 4 rolling the ball in by the right post. L. Ostapciuc received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly 70 minutes into the match, probably out of lack of experience, and almost let an opponent score. P. Timets of Tiligul took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 75 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 1 - 5. Confident in their lead, Tiligul's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. Tiligul enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 61 percent of possession.

SPARTAK's best player was D. Gargalîc. D. Iacubeţ was a disappointment, however. Most important Tiligul player was P. Timets. However, A. Gruzov made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 5.