Thomassen 5 - 1 Rangers (389414018)

43779 punters turned up at FC Thomassen Arena, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Władysław Czapiasty was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Luciano Di Stefano and Josef Dieter Schömig. Thomassen decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Lineup: Phúc Thiền - Jensen, Vilstrup, Lindenskov - Goutidis, Huus, Michaelsen, Håkansson, Chea - Álvarez Sánchez, Friis Nielsen.

Rangers tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. The following players took the field: Ahmad - Mincu, Teodorović, Hehling, Andreasson - Archimalo, Rudloff, Baciu, Cartoccio - Leménager, Candeli.

For their match strategy, Rangers had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. After a fine move down the middle T. Goutidis nearly gave the home side a goal after 22 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. 23 minutes into the game, C. Candeli had a great chance to put his team ahead, but his kick from the left went wide. Thomassen had to make a substitution after 29 minutes. N. Huus limped off the field and was replaced by U. Blach. C. Vilstrup caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 37 minutes. This gave Thomassen the 1 - 0 lead. C. Vilstrup of Thomassen received a yellow card after 38 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Given a free kick close to the byline, Thomassen tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let R. Álvarez Sánchez slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 2 - 0, 39 minutes into the game. After 40 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and R. Michaelsen gave the Thomassen supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 3 - 0. A well-executed free kick by R. Michaelsen after 41 minutes made it 4 - 0 for Thomassen. Confident in their lead, Thomassen's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. Rangers certainly deserved a goal after some stunning play down the left, but C. Candeli just wasn't able to finish. Halftime score was 4 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to Thomassen, who controlled the ball 58 percent of the time.

Rangers caught their opponents out with a clever counterattack down the right wing 53 minutes into the match. F. Mincu was able to finish off the move - 4 - 1. R. Michaelsen struck a 30 metre free kick home 61 minutes into the match. 5 - 1 for the home team. That made three goals for R. Michaelsen and he was marked down for the hat trick. Rangers's C. Baciu was shown a yellow card after 67 minutes for slicing down an opponent. T. Goutidis could have increased the lead after 76 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. R. Michaelsen had a fantastic opportunity to put Thomassen up another goal 77 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. Thomassen enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 60 percent of possession.

The most dominating Thomassen player was without a doubt L. Friis Nielsen. On the other hand, U. Blach's play was disheartening. Rangers's best player was J. Rudloff. A. Archimalo on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 1.