SnowKids 2 - 4 Minsk (388069457)

Clouds darkened the skies at Akillian Planet as 55249 spectators turned up for the match. Gene Grégoire was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Aleksejs Priladiss and Heikki Laurila. The derby had been the talk of Minsk all week and fans of both teams could be seen throughout the stadium. SnowKids tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. The following players took the field: Babeş - Bernini, Kreitmair, Montalto - Ratzeburg, Klangblom, Castellroig, Dünnenberger - Dranchuk, Bessonov, Azgur.

Minsk decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. The following players had been chosen: Cornet - Store, Blardone, Casciano - Hosseinkhani, Khadyka, Zywietz, Rosselli, Esplugas - Tantera, Haugland.

The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to J. Kreitmair, but the SnowKids player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 1 - 0! Minsk levelled the score after 27 minutes to make it 1 - 1, as G. Tantera struck home after a fine midfield combination through the centre, which left him completely unmarked. M. Rosselli had a good opportunity to give Minsk the lead as he charged down the right and struck the ball towards the top corner, but the home team's goalkeeper made the save. SnowKids were very close to putting themselves one up after 32 minutes as D. Dranchuk got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. SnowKids made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in on the right hand side left F. Bernini completely alone with keeper X. Cornet, who made a spectacular block. Minsk's S. Casciano was shown a yellow card after 36 minutes for slicing down an opponent. T. Ratzeburg was the unlucky victim and couldn't continue the game, so SnowKids's E. Wense had to come off the bench. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 40 minutes allowed D. Khadyka to score for Minsk. The scoreboard now read 1 - 2. 1 - 2 was the halftime score. Minsk had most of the ball, with 57 percent of possession.

The SnowKids equaliser came after 51 minutes when F. Montalto floated in a free kick making the score 2 - 2. After 58 minutes, Minsk's S. Casciano made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 2 - 3. After 62 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed M. Rosselli to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 2 - 4. The referee showed SnowKids's P. Dünnenberger the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Possession in this half belonged to Minsk, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

Most important SnowKids player was L. Azgur. E. Wense was a disappointment, however. Minsk's top performer was clearly P. Haugland. On the other hand, M. Hosseinkhani's play was disheartening. The match ends 2 - 4.