Popovac 1 - 2 Smådalarö (388185318)

Dark skies made the crowd of 10674 at Evergreen Terrace a little nervous, but the rain held off. Marcos Antoriano was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Mark Vis and David Terrier. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Popovac. The following players took the field: Milito - Svensson, Dirollo, Pilwald - Vilca, Palma, Tavželj, Mendiluz, Bălaj - Paulsson, Nilsson.

Smådalarö tactics involved an interesting 4-3-3 combination. Lineup: Lindhtorp - Tegblom, Cajado, Häggstedt, Olsson - Ståhling, Hjertfeldt, Colbrant - Grubač, Wojski, Brunott.

Popovac could have put themselves ahead after 17 minutes but P. Nilsson missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. 0 - 1 was the score with 39 minutes played, after C. Olsson cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Smådalarö. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, P. Nilsson got himself booked. The manager of Popovac was not happy. With 41 minutes played, A. Wojski of Smådalarö fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. That Popovac's G. Mendiluz has the ability of doing what no one expects him to do was shown as he ran over an opposing defender, snatched the ball and passed to E. Paulsson who hit it hard into the wide open goal after 43 minutes: 1 - 1! 1 - 1 was the score after the first half. Smådalarö had most of the ball, with 53 percent of possession.

R. Ståhling came close to putting the visiting team one up 50 minutes into the match, following a solo raid down the middle, but J. Milito managed to tip the ball to a corner. Popovac had a good opportunity to take the lead as P. Nilsson came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of L. Lindhtorp. Given a free kick in a difficult position after 70 minutes, Popovac tried a variation that they had practised in training. The kick was sent into the area just in front of the keeper. However, the defence were on their toes and allowed no space for a finish. The visiting V. Grubač was booed thoroughly by the home crowd 72 minutes into the game, after he broke through the middle and scored, resulting in the visitors taking the lead. 1 - 2 was the score. M. Gottardi was called on to replace Smådalarö's F. Hjertfeldt after 75 minutes following a nasty collision. Smådalarö claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 52 percent.

Most important Popovac player was P. Nilsson. U. Pilwald on the other hand, had a terrible day. Smådalarö's best player was L. Lindhtorp. G. Cajado turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 1 - 2.