Kankorezhis 1 - 10 KAvenska (383745901)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 12000 at Kankorezhis Arena today. Giuseppe Repetti was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Matthew Fry and Darren Wynne. Kankorezhis tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. Lineup: Fediajevas - Cerebejus, Kostelnickas, Leskevičius, Verkulis - Šlevinskas, Gurovas, Talakauskas, Birvidas - Mikalkevičius, Snudaitis.

A 2-5-3 alignment was the formation of choice for KAvenska. The following players had been chosen: Barauskis - Delange, Čiopas - Gudmanas, Zetterström, Chepovskiy, Hafsteinsson, Rozenbergs - Peltea, Zavackis, Duval.

Today, KAvenska's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. After 8 minutes, KAvenska put themselves up 0 - 1, as A. Peltea finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. L. Šlevinskas was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was blocked by the keeper. However, Kankorezhis's H. Snudaitis managed to get hold of the rebound and tucked the ball into the empty net. 1 - 1 The guests took the lead 24 minutes into the match, after a right-side attack resulted in E. Zetterström scoring to make it 1 - 2. Kankorezhis's E. Leskevičius left the field after 38 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was G. Čaglis. Kankorezhis's F. Talakauskas got himself booked for a foul. A drive down the left side allowed H. Duval to get in close and score another goal for KAvenska after 40 minutes, taking the score to 1 - 3. 41 minutes in, Kankorezhis's K. Gurovas received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Attacking on the wings was the choice for KAvenska, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. KAvenska increased their lead after 44 minutes when H. Duval broke through on the right, upping the score to 1 - 4, much to the home crowd's dismay. Confident in their lead, KAvenska's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. Had it not been for one of the home defenders, I. Rozenbergs would have put KAvenska up another goal 44 minutes into the match with his audacious lob from the right wing. KAvenska's H. Duval was shown a yellow card after 44 minutes for slicing down an opponent. The player down was F. Talakauskas. The Kankorezhis bench looked worried for a while, but in the end he managed to get up. 1 - 4 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by KAvenska, with 79 percent of the ball.

53 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 1 - 5 as C. Delange finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. C. Delange increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 1 - 6. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave L. Šlevinskas from Kankorezhis a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 60 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! I. Rozenbergs's early cross saw the defenders caught out of position and the alert A. Peltea was able to pounce and roll the ball past the hapless goalkeeper to score for KAvenska. 1 - 7. After 75 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed R. Hafsteinsson to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 1 - 8. After 76 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave E. Zetterström a chance to increase the lead for KAvenska, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 1 - 9. The referee signalled a penalty 77 minutes into the game following an offence which looked like it was outside the box. E. Zetterström knocked it home to make the score 1 - 10. This third goal completed a hattrick for E. Zetterström. Possession in this half belonged to KAvenska, who controlled the ball 81 percent of the time.

Most important Kankorezhis player was T. Cerebejus. L. Šlevinskas was a disappointment, however. The most dominating KAvenska player was without a doubt A. Peltea. However, E. Barauskis made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 10.