Whelos 5 - 4 Justified (389892004)

Due to an all-day shower, 45015 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at The Wonder Arena. Christian Gandrup was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jairo Monge and Ângelo de Carvalho. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Whelos. Lineup: Shamai - Fischbach, Maranga, Lore - Stradiotto, Mahlzeit, Miechowicz, Sivebæk, Davidović - Raponi, Nateira.

Justified had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. The following players took the field: Nicot - Küttner, Pérez, Nucaro - Tomor, O'Flaherty, Al-Samy, O'Clery - Pradas, Musmarra, Korte.

Justified seemed to prefer attacking in the middle. Making his way up the middle 2 minutes into the match, Z. Miechowicz almost managed to squeeze a goal past the visitors' keeper, but the alert R. Nicot blocked it to keep the score level. M. Davidović had a hard time on the waterlogged pitch - his trademark technique was nowhere in sight today. M. Davidović of Whelos received a yellow card after 27 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. 31 minutes into the game, A. Pradas had a great chance to put his team ahead, but his kick from the left went wide. I. Mahlzeit was having a great game - if anything the pouring rain seemed to be spurring him on! Given a free kick close to the byline, Justified tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let J. Al-Samy slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 0 - 1, 38 minutes into the game. Due to some great work on the right wing Whelos's T. Nateira was able to even the score after 40 minutes to make the score 1 - 1. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 41 minutes allowed A. Pradas to score for Justified. The scoreboard now read 1 - 2. 1 - 2 was the score after the first half. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Whelos, with 54 percent of the ball.

After 52 minutes, B. Maranga sent the corner kick right to M. Lore who headed it sharply past the keeper. 2 - 2! After some beautiful movement down the left wing, T. Nateira scored for Whelos putting them ahead 3 - 2, after 76 minutes. After 79 minutes, T. Nateira put Whelos ahead 4 - 2 when he rose to head in a cross from the right wing. That was his third goal of the match - a hat trick for T. Nateira. Justified reduced the deficit to 4 - 3 with a penalty placed perfectly beside the left post by M. Pérez. Whelos put themselves up 5 - 3 when J. Raponi broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. The visitors got one back when A. Pradas finished off a pass from the left and scored after 85 minutes. 5 - 4 was the score. Whelos enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 56 percent of possession.

T. Nateira performed admirably for Whelos. M. Lore was a disappointment, however. Justified's top performer was clearly R. Korte. M. Pérez on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 4.