Gesho 4 - 3 Nobby (379897666)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 1449 at Geshodrome today. Jorge Mateo was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Khaleel El-Sa'eed and Joerg Riechelmann. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Gesho. Lineup: Arpin - Esteve, Aliberti, Pentenrieder - Dinu, Goroneta, Reimann, Negrón, Duma - Puig, Garza.

Nobby tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. They fielded: Poclid - Reichelt, Costa Manso, Ramajo - Kerkopoulos, Immervoll, Wennbrant, Meyer-Andresen - Métay, Berkovic, Balantzategi.

After 10 minutes, C. Reimann came in from the right, feinted, then sped past the off-balance defender to make the score 1 - 0, giving Gesho the lead. Nobby made it 1 - 1 as G. Balantzategi got a touch to the floated corner kick and flicked the ball to M. Métay who whipped a low drive in off the far post. The corner kick from E. Wennbrant was powerfully met by the head of G. Balantzategi to make the score 1 - 2. G. Garza showed the skills that make him a real crowd pleaser as he, after 35 minutes, wove through the guests' entire central defence and put the 2 - 2 equaliser away. The teams went for the halftime break at 2 - 2. Gesho had most of the ball, with 61 percent of possession.

Gesho had a good opportunity to take the lead as G. Negrón came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of A. Poclid. L. Duma's experience almost gave Gesho a goal after 51 minutes but the keeper made a great save. Some great play up the middle by Gesho led to a chance for G. Garza to score after 60 minutes, but the shot hit the crossbar. 67 minutes in, the referee awarded Gesho a penalty. C. Reimann coolly slotted it home for a 3 - 2 lead. After 69 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and M. Aliberti gave the Gesho supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 4 - 2. Nobby reduced the lead after 70 minutes to 4 - 3 as K. Meyer-Andresen easily chipped the ball past the home side's keeper after a dazzling play from the right. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Gesho, with 59 percent of the ball.

Gesho's top performer was clearly G. Garza. However, M. Aliberti made a disastrous appearance. The most dominating Nobby player was without a doubt A. Costa Manso. K. Meyer-Andresen on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 4 - 3.