Giraffe 0 - 1 Taal (384374779)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 14819 had shown up at Giraffe Arena for the match. Panu Saljas was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Federico Contini and Jeffrey MacHutcheon. People from all over Hessen had joined up for the derby. Giraffe started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Dinkić - Arturi, Groos, Besmer, Stommeln - Bouckenooghe, Gillard, Çelem, Kosonen - Sonko, Kortesmäki.

Taal decided to use a 4-5-1 set up. They fielded: Sparneck - Bellver, Steidinger, Grigore, Omwayo - Almaş, Cavallo, Willumsen, Vinzents, Sullanmaa - Frisgaard.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Taal. Giraffe were very close to putting themselves one up after 18 minutes as G. Bouckenooghe got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. Taal's K. Vinzents gave the visitors a 0 - 1 lead after 23 minutes with a superb strike from the right. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 1. Taal claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

A scuffle developed as players from both sides clashed following a tussle in the centre of the field 51 minutes into the match. After regaining order and consulting his linesman, the referee called Giraffe's A. Kosonen to one side and produced a red card for the player. With 64 minutes played, the Giraffe coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. L. Hirtengarten came on, A. Çelem had to leave the fray. After 65 minutes, Giraffe switched F. Arturi with S. Galante, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. As the game started to slip away for Giraffe, the manager decided to change the tactical approach. The Giraffe coach was desperate to reverse his team's fortunes in the game, and ordered his team to change strategy. With the scoreboard showing that 80 minutes had been played, Taal nearly put themselves up another goal after K. Frisgaard came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. Taal had most of the ball, with 63 percent of possession.

The most dominating Giraffe player was without a doubt G. Bouckenooghe. However, V. Dinkić made a disastrous appearance. Taal's best player was A. Grigore. K. Sparneck on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 1.