Ropodepe 3 - 0 Čelsi (382773430)

The crowd of 4230 turning up at Japamapa today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Hans Tranland was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ignaz Albicker and Janne Kytö. Everyone was excited about the upcoming Ljubljana derby and the crowd was divided evenly. Ropodepe tactics involved an interesting 5-4-1 combination. Starters: Stalpert - Hösterey, Ostrowski, Longerich, Tiomulana, Jonsson - George, Eliyav, Danchovski, Nougés - Niinepuu.

Čelsi started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. They fielded: Carroll - Ortone, Tomlje, Korelc, Grilič - Widmer, Brdnik, Novoselič, Tretjak - Vračko, Šimec.

Ropodepe saw most attack opportunities on the wings. V. Danchovski was very close to giving Ropodepe the lead with an ingenious free kick routine 16 minutes into the match, but the ball just grazed the bar. Players in Ropodepe heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. With 23 minutes played I. Eliyav almost put the home team one ahead on a cross coming in from the right, but the shot went just wide. Y. Hösterey slipped and slithered in the wet grass. His usual rapid runs were nowhere to be seen today. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 37 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from P. Ostrowski, who scored with a stunning volley following a cross from the right wing. The home side's A. Longerich came close to extending the lead 40 minutes into the game. His shot came in from the right hand side but D. Carroll managed to save it with an unbelievable reaction stop. Ropodepe put themselves up 2 - 0 when A. Longerich broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, A. Longerich got himself booked. The manager of Ropodepe was not happy. It was 2 - 0 at the break. Possession in this half belonged to Ropodepe, who controlled the ball 62 percent of the time.

With 47 minutes played, Ropodepe's E. Niinepuu almost extended the lead, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. V. Danchovski increased Ropodepe's lead to 3 - 0 with a penalty spot cannonball. The coach of Ropodepe was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 57 minutes, B. Fugina came on for E. Niinepuu. Ropodepe's B. Fugina got himself booked for a foul. Ropodepe enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 66 percent of possession.

Ropodepe's best player was V. Danchovski. A. Longerich on the other hand, had a terrible day. Čelsi's top performer was clearly S. Tomlje. D. Carroll was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 0.