Bystričany 2 - 1 Kovacs 06 (383784900)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 52005 at Arena mladosti today. Clarence Katadreuffe was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Tore Øvlisen and Sylvain Bettinger. Bystričany had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. The following players took the field: Flinkstedt - Zúrik, Daňák, Mortensen - Cieślak, Vysočanský, Happs, Mølgaard - Carvoeiro, Hakeľ, Janák.

Kovacs 06 decided to use a 4-5-1 set up. The following players had been chosen: Catoira - Paderne, Tarczali, Křupka, Sorvisto - Avril, Fariña, Palminha, Quesada Vera, Nord - Hansen.

It was an obvious ambition of Kovacs 06 to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. 8 minutes into the game, N. Hansen had a great chance to put his team ahead, but his kick from the left went wide. P. Quesada Vera really should have scored when he was chosen by fate to confront a wide open goal following a great play by I. Tarczali after a corner. A lovely run by Kovacs 06's F. Avril left his markers for dead and should have resulted in a goal, but the finish went just wide. After 39 minutes Bystričany's M. Zúrik contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. F. Avril has acquired a talent for predicting the movements of the opposing defence over the years and this almost resulted in a goal 40 minutes into the match. The guests almost went up by a goal after 44 minutes when N. Hansen came through and shot from the right. The ball bounced harmlessly off the post, though. Bystričany had a good opportunity to take the lead as S. Hakeľ came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of D. Catoira. 0 - 0 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to Bystričany, who controlled the ball 52 percent of the time.

L. Cieślak gave Bystričany 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 Kovacs 06 had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. Kovacs 06 were close to putting the equaliser away after 60 minutes as the opposing defence lost control of the ball to H. Fariña in a scuffle towards the left of the goal, but in the end the ball was cleared over the dead ball line. L. Cieślak should probably have put his team up another goal after 64 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by D. Catoira kept the visitors in the game. Bystričany managed to extend their lead to 2 - 0 when I. Happs cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. Confident in their lead, Bystričany's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. 68 minutes in, an amazing pass from the left side resulted in a goal for the visitors, as L. Sorvisto anticipated the through ball and scored, reducing the deficit to 2 - 1. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave L. Sorvisto from Kovacs 06 a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 75 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Bystričany, with 52 percent of the ball.

The most dominating Bystričany player was without a doubt V. Carvoeiro. A. Flinkstedt was a disappointment, however. Kovacs 06's top performer was clearly P. Quesada Vera. However, D. Catoira made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 1.