OLTENITA 3 - 0 Dunarea (380910058)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 25434 at FC STEAUA OLTENITA CLUB Arena today. Maxime Gautier was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Carlos Alcaraz Casademunt and Markus Nixon. OLTENITA tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Ben-Shimon - Met, Radulović, Steertpogg - Reeves, Rannou, Biffino Galimberti, Wasyliszyn, Dheilly - Horten, Zöller.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Dunarea. The following players had been chosen: Amal - Balog, Anghel, Malatyinszki, Gülhan - Baloş, Paica, Belák, Bede - Avram, Stroe.

OLTENITA saw most attack opportunities on the wings. After some beautiful movement down the left wing, A. Horten scored for OLTENITA putting them ahead 1 - 0, after 11 minutes. OLTENITA's H. Steertpogg was shown a yellow card after 28 minutes for slicing down an opponent. OLTENITA had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. OLTENITA's M. Zöller had an excellent opportunity after 38 minutes, shooting after receiving a pass from the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! Coming from the right, A. Met almost managed to score another goal for OLTENITA, but his header was tipped over the bar by the visitors' keeper. OLTENITA put themselves up 2 - 0 when A. Horten broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. Always quick and a menace to his opponents, D. Reeves was very close to getting through after 44 minutes, but he could only put the ball into the keeper's arms. OLTENITA were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. After 44 minutes, M. Zöller put OLTENITA ahead 3 - 0 when he rose to head in a cross from the right wing. Confident in their lead, OLTENITA's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. 3 - 0 was the score after the first half. OLTENITA had most of the ball, with 74 percent of possession.

D. Balog of Dunarea received a yellow card after 51 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. With 56 minutes played, I. Paica of Dunarea fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. OLTENITA's M. Zöller swung in a good chance from the left, but the visitors' defence were able to clear the ball. With 70 minutes gone, OLTENITA's H. Steertpogg had to leave the pitch after talking back to the referee and receiving his second booking. Dunarea had to make a substitution after 76 minutes. I. Paica limped off the field and was replaced by C. Ciocodeică. It was obvious that OLTENITA had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by OLTENITA, with 75 percent of the ball.

The most dominating OLTENITA player was without a doubt F. Biffino Galimberti. E. Ben-Shimon turned in a dismal performance, however. D. Balog performed admirably for Dunarea. On the other hand, C. Ciocodeică's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 0.