Tractors 2 - 3 Sweet (382733219)

Clouds darkened the skies at Tractors Arena as 49171 spectators turned up for the match. Erik Gorissen was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Eugeni Vegal and Sebastian Meyer. Tractors had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Starters: Guzmán - Molina Moreno, Dam, Tavolaro - Isola, Bryant, Puech, Schnell, Kostadinov - Barbero, Pavič.

Sweet started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. The following players took the field: Džinic - Bevk, Bording - Grahut, Trampuž, Slodnjak, Smodej, Golob - Taho, Marić, Besseau.

Sweet tried to focus their attacks down the middle. After 4 minutes, speedy J. Barbero dashed past his marker, making plenty of room for the second wave of attack. However, D. Pavič failed to score. Central attacks were the recipe of the day for Sweet, as they moved the ball from the wings to the middle with startling regularity. Sweet had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially 22 minutes in when Đ. Marić came up alone against A. Guzmán who managed a block. 0 - 1 was the score with 24 minutes played, after Đ. Marić cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Sweet. The crowd was on its feet 29 minutes into the match, as Tractors's P. Dam found himself unmarked in front of the goal after a dash up the left side. He calmly put away the 1 - 1 equaliser. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 33 minutes allowed N. Taho to score for Sweet. The scoreboard now read 1 - 2. It was 1 - 2 at the break. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Sweet, with 52 percent of the ball.

A good free kick by S. Bryant would have scored the equaliser for Tractors, had it not been for the dramatic save by the visitors' goalkeeper. After 71 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave M. Grahut a chance to increase the lead for Sweet, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 1 - 3. Confident in their lead, Sweet's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave J. Golob from Sweet a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 72 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Tractors were forced into a substitution as R. Schnell couldn't continue due to some rough treatment, forcing M. Kosovel to come in off the bench. 74 minutes into the game, Sweet worked the left side industriously creating several opportunities to add to their lead, but just couldn't apply the finishing touch. 76 minutes in, Tractors's J. Barbero received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. 77 minutes into the game Tractors broke through on the left wing and P. Kostadinov managed to reduce the lead to 2 - 3. Sweet claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 59 percent.

A. Guzmán performed admirably for Tractors. M. Kosovel on the other hand, had a terrible day. Sweet's top performer was clearly Đ. Marić. E. Bording turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 3.