Rayleigh 3 - 0 London (390052056)

36056 spectators had come to The Dip this cloudy day. Leonardo Wirth was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Petri Hietamies and Ronan Doenselmann. A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Rayleigh. Starters: Ehlert - Ramondt, Loughrey, Andrews, Logan - Bastami, Adkins, Baldock, Waters, 仲铮 (Zhongzheng) - Yamada.

London tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players took the field: Mason - Duguid, Larson, Kulišić - Zabina, Fuller, Cargill, Schneider, Middleton - Querelle, Sarkar.

Today, Rayleigh's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. London mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. Rayleigh broke through on the left 2 minutes into the game, with D. Yamada firing in from an acute angle to give the home side a 1 - 0 lead. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Rayleigh to 2 - 0 as T. Adkins finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. The players of Rayleigh now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. 2 - 0 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Rayleigh, with 66 percent of the ball.

Coming from the right, J. Baldock almost managed to score another goal for Rayleigh, but his header was tipped over the bar by the visitors' keeper. Rayleigh increased the lead as R. Bastami struck to make the score 3 - 0 after an attack from the left left him unmarked in front of the keeper. London's C. Sarkar was shown a yellow card after 79 minutes for slicing down an opponent. A loud groan was heard from the fans of Rayleigh, as V. Andrews left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. H. Clooney took his place on the field. Possession in this half belonged to Rayleigh, who controlled the ball 66 percent of the time.

Rayleigh's best player was D. Yamada. D. Loughrey turned in a dismal performance, however. London's top performer was clearly C. Sarkar. On the other hand, H. Mason's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 0.