Bjarke 0 - 0 Bengo (388104314)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 45437 at Bjarke BoIS arena today. Thorsten Wildman was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Klausdieter Schanda and Mark Dobrak. Bjarke had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Baker - Lefebre, Andersson, Kulawik - Paczóski, Gillmar, Everbratt, Aranđelović, Mossgren - Mauve, Száva.

Bengo tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. Lineup: Ivarsson - Rauhala, Kärrling, Christiansson, Dubourg - Paleologo-Morea, Vona, Ingesson, Radivilov, Garcia - Westerér.

It was an obvious ambition of Bjarke to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. The wings were the focus of most of Bengo's attacks today. Bjarke created a good opportunity to score 12 minutes into the match when A. Mauve's hooked ball from the left created a scuffle in front of the goal, and the visitors' defenders had a hard time clearing the ball. Bengo had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. 15 minutes into the game, F. Westerér had a great chance to put his team ahead, but his kick from the left went wide. It was obvious that Bengo had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. 19 minutes of the match played, and a comedy of errors by the home side gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but V. Radivilov, after finding himself dashing down on goal from the left with only the keeper to beat, sliced his shot horribly wide. Slack defending gave Bjarke a chance to take the lead with 27 minutes played, but E. Száva's cross from the left flank was fumbled in front of the goal and easily dealt with by the opposition. Bengo's L. Kärrling was shown a yellow card after 30 minutes for slicing down an opponent. It was 0 - 0 at the break. Bjarke enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 54 percent of possession.

The guests almost went up by a goal after 56 minutes when F. Paleologo-Morea came through and shot from the right. The ball bounced harmlessly off the post, though. F. Westerér had a good opportunity to give Bengo 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. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave F. Paleologo-Morea from Bengo a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 67 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! A. Azuri was called on to replace Bengo's F. Paleologo-Morea after 71 minutes following a nasty collision. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, F. Westerér got himself booked. The manager of Bengo was not happy. After 77 minutes, the Bengo coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving E. Rauhala off the field. K. Askenquist took his place. J. Ingesson was the new captain of Bengo - handed the armband by the departing player. Bjarke were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. Bjarke claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 56 percent.

The most dominating Bjarke player was without a doubt R. Everbratt. M. Paczóski turned in a dismal performance, however. J. Ingesson performed admirably for Bengo. On the other hand, K. Askenquist's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 0.