Cebados 2 - 4 Balin (383082423)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 11997 at Mate Stadium today. Thorsten Adelell was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Antoine Louis and Falk Reifer. Cebados started off with a 4-3-3 lineup. Lineup: Canziani - Pudāns, Schnedl, Kaloudis, Düring - Bilski, Slendebroek, Quintero - Räikkönen, Hakasalo, Tekke.

Balin tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Sasso - Escobar, Turchetti, Zaraín - Ardei, Motyczyński, Terziyski, van Wijngaarden, Heding - Gallagher, Echepare.

Balin took the lead after 2 minutes making the score 0 - 1. S. Motyczyński placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. Balin increased the lead to 0 - 2 as T. van Wijngaarden scored from the penalty spot, putting the ball in near the top left corner. 32 minutes in, Balin's F. Gallagher received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. 0 - 2 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to Balin, who controlled the ball 74 percent of the time.

Cebados's fans were urging them forward as they tried to get back into the game, and their vocal support was rewarded 48 minutes into the match as V. Hakasalo ran onto a beautiful ball played through the visitors' defence and slotted it past the keeper to reduce the deficit. 1 - 2. R. Schnedl of Cebados was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. 55 minutes into the match, the speedy Z. Tekke easily outpaced D. Turchetti, chipped the keeper and made the score 2 - 2. Balin's L. Escobar was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 64 minutes. Some quick footwork on the left side of the field 67 minutes into the match left Balin's D. Turchetti completely free to score. 2 - 3 for the visitors. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, A. Zaraín got himself booked. The manager of Balin was not happy. The visitors' D. Turchetti took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 79 minutes into the match. 2 - 4 for Balin. Balin claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 76 percent.

A. Räikkönen performed admirably for Cebados. V. Pudāns was a disappointment, however. Balin's top performer was clearly T. van Wijngaarden. L. Escobar on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 4.