Kirby 1 - 0 Marcove (382983674)

13640 spectators had come to Stadium Kebab Conection this cloudy day. Jukka Taka was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Belmiro Thompson and Daniel Cutler. Kirby started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Villafruela - Giambartino, Blindeman, Musetto - Perroni, Burks, Varaona, Marcelín, Kommatias - Llanos, Eristain.

Marcove decided to use a 4-5-1 set up. Starters: Walker - Réant, Barcik, Giance, Fioretti - Azurmendi, Žídek, Lafon, Persson, Castureddu - Alkema.

Kirby clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Marcove. Kirby had a good opportunity to take the lead as R. Marcelín came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of J. Walker. Kirby created a good opportunity to score 10 minutes into the match when Q. Blindeman's hooked ball from the left created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors' defenders had a hard time clearing the ball. After 26 minutes, Kirby's M. Burks fell awkwardly, but was determined to stay in the match. That's the spirit! Some great play up the middle by Kirby led to a chance for A. Eristain to score after 29 minutes, but the shot hit the crossbar. With 31 minutes gone, C. Castureddu suddenly found himself completely free on the right wing when a counterattack by Marcove caught their opponents by surprise. Only a great save by the opposing keeper prevented him from scoring. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 0. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Kirby, with 67 percent of the ball.

Kirby were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. C. Llanos gave Kirby the lead as he successfully challenged the guests' central defenders, then slotted the ball into the bottom corner, giving the keeper no chance. 1 - 0 After 67 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by R. Varaona might have resulted in another goal for Kirby. However, J. Walker made a spectacular save. C. Llanos could have increased the lead after 68 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. After 70 minutes, Marcove switched J. Réant with A. Käufl, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. The Marcove coach was desperate to reverse his team's fortunes in the game, and ordered his team to change strategy. As the game started to slip away for Marcove, the manager decided to change the tactical approach. Unhappy with the result so far in the game, the Marcove manager used a brief break in play after 75 minutes to give the players new directives. Kirby's Q. Blindeman left the field after 77 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was C. Ribot. Possession in this half belonged to Kirby, who controlled the ball 67 percent of the time.

The most dominating Kirby player was without a doubt A. Eristain. However, R. Villafruela made a disastrous appearance. G. Lafon performed admirably for Marcove. A. Käufl was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 0.