jorna 2 - 4 ARAG (388544976)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 19044 had shown up at jorna Arena for the match. Micha Eilvese was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Dean King and Hannu Hoyer. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this West-Vlaanderen derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. jorna had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. Starters: Dumitrescu - Vandeloo, Opdal, Adrichem, Smedema - Eykelenboom, Saarinen, Bucovaz, Aligrudić - Stan, Guénard.

ARAG started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Sandomierski - Carlier, Lucia, Karpen - Delavec, Fagereng, Adolfsson, Wijdenbosch, Fräser - Bosteels, Silva Lopes.

Today, jorna's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. ARAG were relying on their ability to counter-attack. The home side put themselves ahead 1 - 0 after 21 minutes courtesy of a breakthrough from D. Eykelenboom, who scored with a stunning volley following a cross from the right wing. 26 minutes into the match the visitors levelled the score at 1 - 1 as K. Bosteels struck home from a rebound off the crossbar, following a shot from the right. S. Carlier of ARAG was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 30 minutes allowed S. Carlier to score for ARAG. The scoreboard now read 1 - 2. O. Dumitrescu kept the home side in the game with a magnificent save when J. Wijdenbosch delivered an almost perfect free kick to the far post. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 2. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by ARAG, with 57 percent of the ball.

A drive down the left side allowed F. Lucia to get in close and score another goal for ARAG after 62 minutes, taking the score to 1 - 3. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Z. Silva Lopes got himself booked. The manager of ARAG was not happy. ARAG made sure of not letting M. Guénard succeed with his speed. When an opportunity appeared for him, as it did 75 minutes into the game, speedy F. Lucia came to the rescue and stopped the attack. The home crowd was given a certain amount of consolation when M. Saarinen scored after a brilliant midfield combination through the centre, reducing the lead to 2 - 3. jorna's D. Eykelenboom got himself booked for a foul. K. Bosteels was, after 81 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors' lead with a well placed diving header after the ball had looped into the centre, but the home side's keeper O. Dumitrescu made the save. After 83 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for H. Adolfsson who increased ARAG's lead to 2 - 4. 84 minutes into the game, ARAG worked the left side industriously creating several opportunities to add to their lead, but just couldn't apply the finishing touch. Possession in this half belonged to ARAG, who controlled the ball 57 percent of the time.

The most dominating jorna player was without a doubt M. Guénard. D. Eykelenboom turned in a dismal performance, however. Most important ARAG player was Z. Silva Lopes. J. Sandomierski was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 4.