vasas 4 - 3 Harness (383871503)

The 40664 spectators at leon Arena were in for an afternoon of sunshine. Mircea Stoica was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Trevor Zamora and Arvids Petersons. vasas decided to use a 3-4-3 set up. Starters: Coulthard - van Doesburg, Alumur, Pitts - Pomarè, Maas, Szeri, Olivier - Lahr, Pasotti, Lindén.

Harness had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. They fielded: Bucureanu - Oláh, Fodor, Virág - Balde, Cotovad, Nipuli, Mahy - Habitzky, Suárez, Basiladze.

vasas mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. C. Maas caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 3 minutes. This gave vasas the 1 - 0 lead. Coming through the middle M. Habitzky almost scored the equaliser for Harness after 13 minutes, but D. Coulthard made an excellent save, tipping the awkwardly curled shot past the post. The visitors didn't give in and, after 17 minutes, S. Mahy got through the home side's central line of defence, rolling in the equaliser to make it 1 - 1. At 29 minutes played, G. Pomarè came in from the right with the intention of giving vasas the lead, but his rocket of a shot rattled the crossbar. After 37 minutes, T. Nipuli sent the corner kick right to I. Cotovad who headed it sharply past the keeper. 1 - 2! M. Habitzky received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 38 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 1 - 3. The Harness fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. By now, the players in Harness felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. vasas had a brilliant opportunity to reply as A. Olivier received a high ball from the right, striking the ball in the air. Only A. Bucureanu's reflexes saved him. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 3. vasas enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 52 percent of possession.

The home crowd was given a certain amount of consolation when C. Maas scored after a brilliant midfield combination through the centre, reducing the lead to 2 - 3. M. Pitts showed the skills that make him a real crowd pleaser as he, after 77 minutes, wove through the guests' entire central defence and put the 3 - 3 equaliser away. vasas made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in on the right hand side left A. Pasotti completely alone with keeper A. Bucureanu, who made a spectacular block. vasas took the lead 82 minutes into the game by 4 - 3, as D. van Doesburg elegantly received a long range pass through the middle, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. vasas claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

The most dominating vasas player was without a doubt L. Szeri. M. Pitts was a disappointment, however. Most important Harness player was M. Habitzky. A. Bucureanu turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 4 - 3.