Pipponi 2 - 2 STB (379841831)

Clear skies welcomed the 2207 spectators who had made their way to Pipponi Arena. Sammy Phelps was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Stefan Nuspliger and Felix Schupp. A 2-5-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Pipponi. The following players had been chosen: Gilliam - Buergi, Gustavsson - Di Tria, Theodorescu, Manegatti, Ziemianek, Wedstål - Berariu, Caveglia, Schwartz.

STB had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players took the field: Liljenquist - Maagaard, Austin, van Arendonk, Häkkilä - Pelgioioso, Šutalo, Dittrich, Kutzer - Pirkkinäinen, Lesueur.

With 3 minutes played, S. Kutzer of STB fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. 7 minutes into the match, the speedy D. Berariu easily outpaced R. van Arendonk, chipped the keeper and made the score 1 - 0. J. Buergi unleashed a swerving effort from the right that the visitors' keeper did well to tip wide. H. Schwartz should probably have put his team up another goal after 25 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by M. Liljenquist kept the visitors in the game. The STB coach was desperate to reverse his team's fortunes in the game, and ordered his team to change strategy. After 35 minutes, STB used a short break in the game to take new instructions from their coach. It was 1 - 0 at the break. Pipponi enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 62 percent of possession.

Content with how the game was proceeding, the Pipponi coach let D. Gullborn replace J. Buergi after 46 minutes. S. Gilliam wanted to play on, but the Pipponi coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 46 minutes into the game by A. Murawka. Unhappy with the result so far in the game, the STB manager used a brief break in play after 60 minutes to give the players new directives. After 60 minutes, STB switched D. Pelgioioso with M. Forsberg, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. 63 minutes into the game, H. Schwartz had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came G. Hagér. P. Gustavsson could have put Pipponi up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 72 minutes. STB tied it all up, 83 minutes in, after a spectacular goal by T. Pirkkinäinen, who miraculously broke through the home side's central defence, making it 1 - 1. STB took the lead 84 minutes into the game, making the score 1 - 2 after some elegant movement down the middle. G. Dittrich was the scorer. The STB players could smell victory in the air. J. Lesueur wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for T. Olsson after 85 minutes. 86 minutes in, Pipponi's U. Di Tria received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. With the crowd on their feet chanting wildly, some great moves down the right hand side after 87 minutes gave Pipponi a wonderful opportunity to level the score, and G. Hagér stepped up to the challenge. 2 - 2 Possession in this half belonged to Pipponi, who controlled the ball 57 percent of the time.

Most important Pipponi player was D. Berariu. A. Murawka was a disappointment, however. The most dominating STB player was without a doubt T. Pirkkinäinen. S. Kutzer turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 2.