winner70 2 - 1 Football (379021393)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 978 at Abbé Deschamps today. Greger Eriksson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Luitbert Zahl and Gabriel Rios. winner70 had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Keister - Galvão, Minden, Razumkov - Weber, Krupička, Spirau, Cantos, Noël - Praud, Tilli.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Football. They fielded: Lévêque - Kaihua, Paquet, Sene - Hognon, Hardy, Berthet, Mouihbi, Bryn - Martin, Pitel.

It was obvious that Football were using their pressing skill as their primary tactic. Making his way up the middle 4 minutes into the match, A. Praud almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert M. Lévêque blocked it to keep the score level. winner70 broke through on the left 21 minutes into the game, with T. Tilli firing in from an acute angle to give the home side a 1 - 0 lead. Football pressed their opponents, causing the game to be a bit of a stalemate at times. 25 minutes into the game Football's N. Berthet found a gap in the home side's central defence and scored with a fabulous shot, making it 1 - 1. winner70 took the lead after 27 minutes as a result of A. Praud's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 2 - 1. 2 - 1 was the score after the first half. Football claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 51 percent.

Football's ability to press all over the field frequently paid dividends. M. Lévêque was caught napping as T. Tilli lifted a ball over him following a free kick, but the ball hit the bar, rebounding into the keeper's arms. Possession in this half belonged to winner70, who controlled the ball 56 percent of the time.

winner70's top performer was clearly T. Tilli. R. Keister turned in a dismal performance, however. Football's best player was A. Hardy. On the other hand, N. Sene's play was disheartening. The match ends 2 - 1.