Podland 4 - 5 United (379565363)

Dark skies made the crowd of 3323 at The Podbowl a little nervous, but the rain held off. Yao Hwen Thiang was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Turhan Namýk and Zdenko Kiković. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Podland. Starters: Lane - Vines, Waldner, Doyle - Traore, Turcu, Eräkorpi, Irvine, Bothenhorst - Walker, Pacín.

United tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. The following players had been chosen: Olsson - Csupra, Guitar - Greß, Wiegersma, Rico, Martinsson, Perný - Killing, Ericsson, Opačić.

D. Opačić had a good opportunity to give United the lead as he charged down the right and struck the ball towards the top corner, but the home team's goalkeeper made the save. United took the lead 5 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. D. Opačić was the scorer. A well placed corner kick from A. Waldner was followed by A. Walker's hard but accurate header. The well executed routine resulted in a goal for Podland, the score now 1 - 1. The home side put themselves ahead 2 - 1 after 32 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from M. Bothenhorst, who scored with a stunning volley following a cross from the right wing. M. Bothenhorst's speed is always a threat when he gets a little room to move, and 39 minutes into the match was no different as he broke free of his man to send a delightful through ball to G. Pacín who knocked it in for Podland. 3 - 1! With 40 minutes showing on the scoreboard clock, United showed some good skill and were able to reduce the score to 3 - 2 when D. Opačić got past the home side's central defenders right in front of the goal. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Podland to 4 - 2 as A. Walker finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Podland lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. The visitors got a chance to pulling one back after 42 minutes, due to a defensive blunder leaving B. Csupra completely unmarked. His strike was pathetic though, easy prey for the home side's keeper. After 43 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by A. Walker might have resulted in another goal for Podland. However, P. Olsson made a spectacular save. 4 - 2 was the halftime score. Possession of the ball saw an equal split between the teams during the forty-five minutes.

Podland's M. Bothenhorst refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon after 56 minutes. United fought on and, after 59 minutes, N. Rico was able to reduce the deficit to 4 - 3 after some excellent moves on the right side were finished off with an incredibly clever chip. T. Greß tied the game at 4 - 4 after 70 minutes, when he converted an incredible pass from the right. United's R. Martinsson gave the visitors a 4 - 5 lead after 77 minutes with a superb strike from the right. Content with how the game was proceeding, the United coach let S. M'bow replace B. Csupra after 80 minutes. United claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 54 percent.

The most dominating Podland player was without a doubt B. Irvine. However, A. Waldner made a disastrous appearance. D. Opačić performed admirably for United. P. Olsson was a disappointment, however. The match ends 4 - 5.