Partenopea 5 - 1 Engeneers (381693396)

The crowd of 26277 turning up at Covo dei Briganti today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Ido Zaltzman was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Fritz Zadina and Dominikus Hollenbach. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Partenopea. The following players had been chosen: Zakhodyakin - Mikkelsen, Ceravolo, Catellini - Marella, Corveddu, Leotta, Kanzari, Nürnberger - Gönczi, Zampedri.

Engeneers decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Lineup: Rioja - Moreno, Bertòn, Nannoni - Adema, Caggioni, Willisen, Gai, Segato - Cansever, van de Kar.

Partenopea used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. Engeneers displayed their ability to play creatively. With 10 minutes played, Partenopea's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to G. Zampedri he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 1 - 0. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Partenopea, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. 27 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as G. Zampedri broke through, making the score 2 - 0 for Partenopea. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Partenopea's E. Kanzari increasing the lead to 3 - 0. It was a bad day for the usually speedy J. Corveddu. The mud seemed to slow him down. 3 - 0 was the halftime score. Possession in this half belonged to Partenopea, who controlled the ball 56 percent of the time.

L. Zakhodyakin made a brilliant save 47 minutes into the match, blocking a rocket of a shot from G. Segato on the right hand side. The away team improved the scoreline to 3 - 1, as H. Willisen struck home, set up well by a play on the left 79 minutes into the match. The cannonball from 35 metres by M. Gai of Engeneers was an impressive sight, but didn't make it into the net. With 85 minutes played, Partenopea put themselves up 4 - 1 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to G. Zampedri, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. That was his third goal of the match - a hat trick for G. Zampedri. Z. Gönczi should probably have put his team up another goal after 87 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by E. Rioja kept the visitors in the game. Cheers filled the stadium as G. Zampedri broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 5 - 1 to Partenopea. Confident in their lead, Partenopea's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Partenopea, with 53 percent of the ball.

Most important Partenopea player was G. Zampedri. M. Marella was a disappointment, however. Engeneers's best player was M. Bertòn. However, L. Moreno made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 5 - 1.