Pleiadi 1 - 3 avellino (381762802)

Dark skies made the crowd of 24872 at Pleiadi United Arena a little nervous, but the rain held off. Riko Buchholtz was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Frede Rostgaard and Marco Hess. Pleiadi tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players took the field: Nardizzi - Calvet, Carpio, Dundr - Hurwitz, Botana, Bychowski, Agathanggelou, Lotrič - Minutillo, Wiel.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for avellino. They fielded: Rosół - Verhaert, Guahardo-Fajardo, Liévano - Parzychowski, Linggi, Hilliaho, Dumais, Pinelli - Mandragallo, Vitanov.

Pleiadi saw most attack opportunities on the wings. After 11 minutes, avellino's M. Mandragallo made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. After 14 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for G. Pinelli who increased avellino's lead to 0 - 2. After 23 minutes, following yet another great corner, G. Hurwitz's flick on at the near post reached M. Dundr, who was just wide with his snapshot - the ball went out for a goal kick. After 25 minutes, avellino's V. Vitanov burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 3. After 28 minutes a very unfortunate collision in the penalty area led to avellino's S. Rosół being carried off the pitch and replaced by R. Bentili. 0 - 3 was the halftime score. Pleiadi claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 51 percent.

Pleiadi were awarded a penalty 57 minutes into the match and P. Carpio fired the ball into the net to make the score 1 - 3. The home side worked their way through the middle and almost got one back when M. Bychowski tried to sneak the ball past the keeper. R. Bentili was too alert for that! The crowd groaned when S. Botana, having maneuvered his way down the right, fired the ball just wide and missed a great opportunity to reduce the deficit for Pleiadi. With 84 minutes played, M. Mandragallo of avellino fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. M. Verhaert could have put his team up another goal 85 minutes into the game, after a rush down the left, but his closing shot hit the post. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by avellino, with 51 percent of the ball.

Most important Pleiadi player was S. Botana. On the other hand, I. Lotrič's play was disheartening. avellino's top performer was clearly V. Vitanov. R. Bentili turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 1 - 3.