Axespin 1 - 0 Runners (382966203)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 25000 at Axes Arena today. Paolo Galliker was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Fredrik Sahlhult and Rodolfo Aguirre. The derby had been the talk of Catalunya all week and fans of both teams could be seen throughout the stadium. Axespin decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. They fielded: Pižl - Steinbeis, Skals Jensen, Maske, Håkansson - Tibor, Kałan, Sagarra, Tatsis - Eusebi, Fragkouliadis.

Runners started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players took the field: Monhait - Guercolata, Petrov, Sparwein - Markfort, Draksjö, Ruiz Jiménez, Vermiesch, Modafferi - Halldorsson, Galistinos.

Axespin's B. Steinbeis tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders. The referee showed Axespin's A. Fragkouliadis the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Given a free kick close to the byline, Axespin tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let D. Sagarra slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 1 - 0, 38 minutes into the game. After 39 minutes, following yet another great corner, A. Skals Jensen's flick on at the near post reached D. Sagarra, who was just wide with his snapshot - the ball went out for a goal kick. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to Runners, who controlled the ball 52 percent of the time.

Coming through the middle C. Markfort almost scored the equaliser for Runners after 47 minutes, but T. Pižl made an excellent save, tipping the awkwardly curled shot past the post. 54 minutes into the game, Axespin seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to inadequate. A. Fragkouliadis should probably have put his team up another goal after 62 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by M. Monhait kept the visitors in the game. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave A. Skals Jensen from Axespin a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 67 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! 73 minutes in, Runners's A. Petrov received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. With 77 minutes played, the visitors could have drawn level after S. Sparwein came through the middle, but his kick went wide. Runners had most of the ball, with 59 percent of possession.

Axespin's best player was B. Steinbeis. A. Tibor turned in a dismal performance, however. Runners's top performer was clearly K. Vermiesch. On the other hand, A. Petrov's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 0.