Żyrardów 0 - 3 Lublinianka (387389309)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 17528 at Ruch Ace Arena today. Elbert Kamerlingh was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jaimy Brakenhoff and Wisi Siggelkow. Żyrardów decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Starters: Solinas - Galle, Caniego, Maniez - Amirault, Biniek, Ushakov, Bykov, Ruszczyk - Roter, Hasiński.

Lublinianka had chosen a strategic 5-3-2 formation. They fielded: Jęchorek - Barbořák, Jeżak, Gramała, Błazik, Jäckel - Sanna, Szlęk, Azuela - Torniainen, Baas.

Żyrardów mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. The visiting K. Baas was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 9 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 0 - 1 was the score. With 14 minutes gone, T. Torniainen suddenly found himself completely free on the right wing when a counterattack by Lublinianka caught their opponents by surprise. Only a great save by the opposing keeper prevented him from scoring. Żyrardów were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. It was obvious that team Żyrardów had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. The suddenness of the Lublinianka's V. Barbořák's pass to K. Baas after 36 minutes caught the opposition wrong-footed, and they could only watch as the ball sailed home for 0 - 2. Given a free kick close to the byline, Lublinianka tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let O. Jeżak slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 0 - 3, 37 minutes into the game. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Lublinianka lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. G. Azuela wanted to play on, but the Lublinianka coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 40 minutes into the game by H. Wegiera. Halftime score was 0 - 3. Żyrardów had most of the ball, with 60 percent of possession.

The home side worked their way through the middle and almost got one back when L. Amirault tried to sneak the ball past the keeper. S. Jęchorek was too alert for that! A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from H. Wegiera after 65 minutes, and prevented Lublinianka from going up another goal. Żyrardów claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 61 percent.

Most important Żyrardów player was R. Ushakov. However, L. Amirault made a disastrous appearance. T. Torniainen performed admirably for Lublinianka. On the other hand, R. Gramała's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 3.