Villa 2 - 4 Mariano (383141874)

3977 spectators arrived at Villa Murru Arena, where weather conditions were pretty good for football. Dolf Dikkops was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Craig Paltrow and Jan Niklasson. Villa tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. The following players had been chosen: Mayor - Chapar, Campomanes, Baillo - Badorrey, Casón, Atxaketa, Florit - Basoa, Goiatz, Abel.

Mariano started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Galdós - Kolari, Campuzano, Gorriola - Verkeev, Okoth, Karácsony, Rodríguez, Arantzaeta - Balada, Fachs.

Villa were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. Mariano demonstrated their creative tactics on the field. M. Goiatz's speed is always a threat when he gets a little room to move, and 2 minutes into the match was no different as he broke free of his man to send a delightful through ball to J. Basoa who knocked it in for Villa. 1 - 0! It was obvious that Villa had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. J. Basoa unleashed a swerving effort from the right that the visitors' keeper did well to tip wide. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Villa scored another to make it 2 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for J. Abel after 25 minutes. The referee showed Villa's P. Casón the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. 2 - 0 was the score after the first half. Mariano enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 54 percent of possession.

S. Badorrey should probably have put his team up another goal after 51 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by D. Galdós kept the visitors in the game. Morale on the visitors' bench was greatly improved when their A. Kolari reduced the lead to make it 2 - 1 after 53 minutes, following a pass from the right. B. Chapar received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly 67 minutes into the match, probably out of lack of experience, and almost let an opponent score. The visitors refused to give in and, after 72 minutes, J. Balada evened things up as he finished off a perfect pass from the right. 2 - 2 D. Borrel was called on to replace Villa's E. Florit after 81 minutes following a nasty collision. Mariano took the lead 82 minutes into the game, making the score 2 - 3 after some elegant movement down the middle. J. Arantzaeta was the scorer. 83 minutes into the game, J. Abel came close to levelling the score with a dangerous shot from the centre of the area that went just over the bar. After the ball was lifted in from the left, A. Kolari was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 85 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. Attacking on the wings was the choice for Villa, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. G. Atxaketa was just a finger's breadth away from an equaliser for Villa with a strike from the left, but D. Galdós managed to ward the shot off for a corner. With 88 minutes played, Mariano put themselves up 2 - 4 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was J. Arantzaeta. Mariano had most of the ball, with 58 percent of possession.

The most dominating Villa player was without a doubt P. Casón. However, A. Mayor made a disastrous appearance. Mariano's top performer was clearly J. Balada. A. Kolari on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 4.