HB 8 - 0 HSG (384617198)

3799 fans braved the pouring rain at Saale Arena. Glenn Faaborg was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Arian Connor Prausner and Kristian Håkansson. HB tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Lineup: Bregenzer - Illiani, Tocitu, Nöllner - Geretslehner, Villiez, Welkenraedt, Guerreiro, Cassiano - Ettenberger, Crnošija.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for HSG. Starters: Hasselbreite - Resel, Rahmann, Neyyir, Terrilon - Schnupp, Deml, Reffke, Hundritsch - Fassl, Schieritz.

The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to J. Geretslehner, but the HB player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 1 - 0! E. Guerreiro didn't let the weather get him down and made some great moves on the pitch in spite of the rain. HB's J. Geretslehner increased the lead to 2 - 0, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 36 minutes. Confident in their lead, HB's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. After 38 minutes, HB's P. Crnošija found the back of the goal with a beautiful free kick. 3 - 0. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave R. Deml from HSG a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 39 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! A loud groan was heard from the fans of HB, as E. Guerreiro left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. R. Mittweida took his place on the field. Things were deteriorating for the away team as HB scored another to make it 4 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for F. Tocitu after 41 minutes. HSG had to make a substitution after 43 minutes. E. Fassl limped off the field and was replaced by H. Vertman. R. Hundritsch was handed the HSG captain's armband. It was 4 - 0 at the break. HB claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 75 percent.

G. Villiez was uncomfortable with the soggy pitch as he couldn't move the ball around with his usual grace. G. Villiez could have increased the lead after 57 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. 69 minutes into the match P. Crnošija put HB ahead 5 - 0 with a truly marvelous free kick. It was a bad day for the usually speedy H. Nöllner. The mud seemed to slow him down. HB solidified their lead at the 72 minute mark, as J. Geretslehner dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 6 - 0. At that, J. Geretslehner was noted down for a hat trick! HB managed to extend their lead to 7 - 0 when X. Welkenraedt cut in neatly from the left side and struck a fine shot past the away team's goalkeeper. After 85 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and P. Crnošija gave the HB supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 8 - 0. That was his third goal of the match - a hat trick for P. Crnošija. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by HB, with 77 percent of the ball.

HB's best player was P. Crnošija. However, H. Bregenzer made a disastrous appearance. F. Schieritz performed admirably for HSG. H. Vertman turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 8 - 0.