Sarpsborg 1 - 1 Renate (384179454)

A scorching day at Sarpsborg Stadion, where 12306 spectators were in place for today's match. Daniel Dahlblom was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Brandon van Olphen and Jürgen Radtke. Sarpsborg started off with a 3-4-3 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Skeie - Ferracioli, Abalos, Marques Barbosa - Johansson, Bernaduca, Boatella, Kỳ - Bachtobji, Haugerud, Ahrnsen.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Renate. Starters: Forren - Homme, Malmros, Tyldum, Engstad - Nese, Heggelund, Forberg, Rotevatn - Olsen, Løver.

Sarpsborg saw most attack opportunities on the wings. Renate took the lead 10 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. H. Nese was the scorer. With 25 minutes played, seemingly due to lack of experience, D. Abalos needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. Sarpsborg had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. The crowd was on its feet 32 minutes into the match, as Sarpsborg's L. Kỳ found himself unmarked in front of the goal after a dash up the left side. He calmly put away the 1 - 1 equaliser. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, J. Olsen got himself booked. The manager of Renate was not happy. Sarpsborg were very close to putting themselves one up after 41 minutes as F. Johansson got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. A. Bachtobji of Sarpsborg was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. It was 1 - 1 at the break. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Sarpsborg, with 55 percent of the ball.

It was a hot and sunny day, and several players seemed worn out. Maybe this was why O. Boatella found an unusual amount of space for his snappy footwork. With 58 minutes played J. Marques Barbosa almost put the home team one ahead on a cross coming in from the right, but the shot went just wide. Making his way up the middle 62 minutes into the match, J. Haugerud almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert K. Forren blocked it to keep the score level. Renate's C. Engstad was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 68 minutes. Sarpsborg made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in on the right hand side left O. Boatella completely alone with keeper K. Forren, who made a spectacular block. Sarpsborg had most of the ball, with 58 percent of possession.

Most important Sarpsborg player was R. Ahrnsen. A. Ferracioli was a disappointment, however. Renate's best player was I. Løver. However, K. Forren made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 1.