portocala 3 - 1 Medgidia (380785647)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 44174 at portocala mecanica Stadium today. Jan-Piet Hootsen was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jan-Christian Friedland and Jerzy Kałwa. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for portocala. They fielded: Le Page - Milea, Bărnuţiu, Uricchio - Żyś, Hamid, David, Crişan, Larsen - Genestreti, Erez.

Medgidia had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players took the field: Stanciu - Pană, Alexandrescu, Salwin - Weser, Ionescu, Lessard, Monteiro, Yetim - Ølholm, Baeza.

After some beautiful movement down the left wing, M. Hamid scored for portocala putting them ahead 1 - 0, after 5 minutes. portocala's M. Hamid was shown a yellow card after 28 minutes for slicing down an opponent. Things were deteriorating for the away team as portocala scored another to make it 2 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for R. Crişan after 32 minutes. By now, the players in portocala felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. portocala's K. Larsen saw his fine effort strike the top of the bar following some good work up the middle by his teammates after 34 minutes. portocala's D. Erez had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 41 minutes having been played. N. Tudorache was the replacement. A well placed corner kick from A. Alexandrescu was followed by A. Ionescu's hard but accurate header. The well executed routine resulted in a goal for Medgidia, the score now 2 - 1. After 43 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by B. David might have resulted in another goal for portocala. However, V. Stanciu made a spectacular save. T. Milea of portocala was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. 2 - 1 was the score after the first half. portocala claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 61 percent.

Coming from the right, N. Tudorache almost managed to score another goal for portocala, but his header was tipped over the bar by the visitors' keeper. N. Genestreti could have increased the lead after 71 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. W. Żyś had a fantastic opportunity to put portocala up another goal 72 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. The portocala free kick 76 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of E. Bărnuţiu, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 3 - 1! Possession in this half belonged to portocala, who controlled the ball 59 percent of the time.

The most dominating portocala player was without a doubt M. Hamid. However, N. Tudorache made a disastrous appearance. Medgidia's best player was H. Baeza. W. Salwin was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 1.