RANCESE 1 - 5 Viola (380281569)

Dark skies made the crowd of 16000 at FC RANCESE STADIUM a little nervous, but the rain held off. Michael Weichhaus was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Conny Wurmser and Christian Metrot. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for RANCESE. Starters: Signorotto - Del Muto, Pierattini, Mortelmans - Aalmans, Baroutchiyan, Stamenov, Falegnami, Ghinelli - Çaykara, Mafteiu.

Viola tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. The following players took the field: Buffon - Aversano, Blardone - Marta, Pestarino, Mandragallo, Carluccio, Fasano - Maranga, Sacchi, Perra.

Some good play on the left wing created an opportunity for the visitors 8 minutes into the match, and M. Blardone wasn't about to let it go by. He got past the defenders and fired a shot that the keeper just missed. 0 - 1 for the visitors. 21 minutes into the match, A. Fasano came through the middle and almost added to his team's lead, but the shot went wide. A drive down the left side allowed G. Perra to get in close and score another goal for Viola after 27 minutes, taking the score to 0 - 2. With 37 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed C. Mandragallo of Viola to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 0 - 3. By now, the players in Viola felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. There was concern in the stands when, at the 39 minute mark, RANCESE's K. Aalmans hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. 0 - 3 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Viola, who controlled the ball 63 percent of the time.

M. Aversano wanted to play on, but the Viola coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 50 minutes into the game by L. Moosegger. The Viola captaincy was handed to M. Pestarino. Content with how the game was proceeding, the Viola coach let G. Engstrand replace C. Mandragallo after 50 minutes. The visitors' A. Fasano took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 52 minutes into the match. 0 - 4 for Viola. D. Marta received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 57 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 5. The Viola fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. RANCESE had to make a substitution after 63 minutes. D. Stamenov limped off the field and was replaced by D. Vazeliadis. G. Engstrand's inexperience was obvious when his continual hesitation to put in a tackle allowed C. Falegnami plenty of time to pick an unguarded area of the goal for his shot, marking one for RANCESE. 1 - 5. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave A. Fasano from Viola a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 71 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! 81 minutes into the game, D. Marta had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came V. Piccolini. Viola had most of the ball, with 57 percent of possession.

RANCESE's top performer was clearly K. Aalmans. E. Signorotto turned in a dismal performance, however. Most important Viola player was G. Perra. G. Engstrand was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 5.