Fox 1 - 2 Skelleys (374456061)

Dark skies made the crowd of 27919 at Fox Stadium a little nervous, but the rain held off. Frédéric Hervier was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Mohd Faizal bin Shaari and Antal Magenheim. Fox tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: García de Paredes - Argonz, Pałuba, Warlow - Robledo, Anhalt, Duran, Teerisalo, Hannam - Weinmayr, Viitala.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Skelleys. The following players had been chosen: Grieve - Selvieland, Arnold, Cottam - Mushtaq, Gannon, Torrance, Muhammad, Starsmore - Williams, Fordham.

It was an obvious ambition of Fox to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. 0 - 1 was the score with 8 minutes played, after H. Mushtaq cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Skelleys. Fox tried to even things up by sending a long ball towards the centrally placed strikers, but the visitors' defence got the best of this rather direct style of play. 25 minutes into the game, Skelleys worked the left side industriously creating several opportunities to add to their lead, but just couldn't apply the finishing touch. Fox's K. Teerisalo made a successful breakthrough on the left after 27 minutes and should have levelled the score, but instead he clipped it over the bar. Fox's T. Viitala's long shot really ought to have found the net 29 minutes into the match, but it fell just wide of the target. The corner kick from A. Williams was powerfully met by the head of S. Fordham to make the score 0 - 2. Confident in their lead, Skelleys's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. It was 0 - 2 at the break. Possession in this half belonged to Skelleys, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

With 52 minutes played, S. Gannon nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. The home crowd were delighted when E. Duran scored with a header after an attack from the right, making the score 1 - 2. But did he use his hand? That'll be one for the pundits to talk about after the game, that's for sure! With 80 minutes played, Fox's É. Anhalt found an opening in the visitors' left side defence, but his shot was handled easily by the keeper. 81 minutes into the match, Z. Starsmore came through the middle and almost added to his team's lead, but the shot went wide. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Skelleys, with 61 percent of the ball.

Fox's top performer was clearly É. Anhalt. On the other hand, J. Pałuba's play was disheartening. Most important Skelleys player was M. Muhammad. E. Grieve on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 2.