Ashleigh 3 - 2 Secede (377339017)

Dark skies made the crowd of 42000 at St. Eunans Arena a little nervous, but the rain held off. Borisa Cilinsek was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Lucjan Mikolajewski and Bjørn Mogen. Ashleigh had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players took the field: Power - Louvros, Calmar, McGloughlin, Nunes - Beaudouin, Solehmainen, Inglés, Mendes - Cox, Bomhard.

Secede decided to use a 5-4-1 set up. Lineup: Glanvall - Enright, Mac an Bhreithiún, Genelin, McKenna, MacCarrghamhna - Orr, O'Callaghan, Tsukumo, Salgaro - Vīndedzis.

Today, Ashleigh's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. After 11 minutes, B. Mendes came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 1 - 0, giving Ashleigh the lead. After 12 minutes, the visitors tied it up at 1 - 1 when a fantastic pass from the left was finished off by M. McKenna. Ashleigh had to make a substitution after 20 minutes. R. Power limped off the field and was replaced by J. Osagie. B. Salgaro came close to putting the visiting team one up 28 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but J. Osagie managed to tip the ball to a corner. 30 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a Secede substitution. V. Stoyanov came on for C. O'Callaghan. 1 - 1 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Secede, with 61 percent of the ball.

After 61 minutes, the Ashleigh coach had a quick word about the tactical set-up and decided to try another approach. W. Mac an Bhreithiún sailed high above the opponents as he headed in a corner kick from V. Stoyanov after 65 minutes of play, making the score 1 - 2. Ashleigh equalised after 66 minutes after a brilliantly placed penalty by M. Inglés. A. Vīndedzis would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. C. Mano entered the game for Secede as the match clock showed 70 minutes. D. Beaudouin's early cross saw the defenders caught out of position and the alert K. Bomhard was able to pounce and roll the ball past the hapless goalkeeper to score for Ashleigh. 3 - 2. Players in Ashleigh heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. Ashleigh's D. Beaudouin swung in a good chance from the left, but the visitors' defence were able to clear the ball. The visitors almost came back with an equaliser 84 minutes into the match after a good combination down the middle, but when R. MacCarrghamhna tried to finish the attack, he couldn't deliver the shot hard enough to seriously challenge the keeper. Coming through the middle C. Mano almost scored the equaliser for Secede after 88 minutes, but J. Osagie made an excellent save, tipping the awkwardly curled shot past the post. Possession in this half belonged to Secede, who controlled the ball 60 percent of the time.

Most important Ashleigh player was K. Bomhard. J. Osagie on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Secede player was without a doubt F. Orr. J. Glanvall turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 3 - 2.