ZS 8 - 1 CNM (380889481)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 28133 at Andrix Arena today. Marcel Adnane was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Mats Thorstensson and Harold Page. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for ZS. Starters: Zawarski - Viken-Valvåg, Benckendorff, Runte - Wick, Dumitrache, Korthals, Kreyenbühl, Jutkiewicz - Ryehauge, Sunesson.

CNM started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. Lineup: Opazo - Teleagă, Posea - Ţopa, Petac, Burkov, Stroe, Ialomiţeanu - Pal, Ranga, Farkas.

ZS mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. For their match strategy, CNM had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. ZS took the lead after 4 minutes as a result of F. Dumitrache's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 1 - 0. The referee showed CNM's D. Ialomiţeanu the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. K. Jutkiewicz squirmed through their central defence after 14 minutes, increasing the lead to 2 - 0. 16 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as R. Sunesson broke through, making the score 3 - 0 for ZS. Given a free kick close to the byline, ZS tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let R. Sunesson slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 4 - 0, 20 minutes into the game. Confident in their lead, ZS's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. Ater 28 minutes S. Posea seized on an opportunistic attack from the right, and scored for CNM making it 4 - 1. Things were deteriorating for the away team as ZS scored another to make it 5 - 1 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for K. Jutkiewicz after 28 minutes. K. Jutkiewicz really should have scored when he was chosen by fate to confront a wide open goal following a great play by R. Kreyenbühl after a corner. Halftime score was 5 - 1. ZS claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 80 percent.

After 47 minutes, K. Jutkiewicz put ZS ahead 6 - 1 when he rose to head in a cross from the right wing. At that, K. Jutkiewicz was noted down for a hat trick! The home side failed to add to their score as C. Ryehauge shot a penalty wide after 60 minutes. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, S. Posea got himself booked. The manager of CNM was not happy. R. Kreyenbühl received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly 67 minutes into the match, probably out of lack of experience, and almost let an opponent score. K. Jutkiewicz made one of his many fine passes from the wing into the middle 71 minutes into the match. C. Ryehauge bravely attempted to execute a diving header and the ball was met firmly with his forehead for ZS. 7 - 1. A foul called during a ZS counterattack resulted in a great chance to score, but C. Ryehauge's shot rattled off the post. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in ZS's T. Viken-Valvåg increasing the lead to 8 - 1. V. Wick could have increased the lead after 80 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. ZS had most of the ball, with 77 percent of possession.

The most dominating ZS player was without a doubt K. Korthals. J. Zawarski on the other hand, had a terrible day. CNM's top performer was clearly D. Ţopa. G. Petac was a disappointment, however. The match ends 8 - 1.