Preachers 1 - 2 Thunderchild (390057561)

The 21787 fans in attendance at The Abbey were roasting in the hot sun. Darrick Zamora was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jimbo Tschada and Nils-Ove Falkbom. Preachers had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players took the field: Ortiz - Sanderson, Schulte, Smallman - Goodacre, Bittner, Fabes, Johansson, Healy - McGuerrill, Slet-Pedersen.

Thunderchild decided to use a 3-4-3 set up. They fielded: Grant - Bowman, Wiebalck, Bocchio - Tossavainen, Jiménez Knorr, Tyazhelov, Strauss - Canà, Kononenko, Kehre.

It was an obvious ambition of Preachers to use their ability at attacking on the flanks. Players in Preachers heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. After 33 minutes, Thunderchild's V. Tyazhelov made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. E. Kehre could have put his team up another goal 36 minutes into the game, after a rush down the left, but his closing shot hit the post. Having been awarded a free kick in an awkward position after 42 minutes, Preachers did not go for a shot but instead fired the ball hard into the 6 yard box. After a brief tussle with his marker, J. Fabes was able to power the ball past the keeper to make the score 1 - 1. After 43 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as Thunderchild found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to poor. Thunderchild took the lead after 44 minutes making the score 1 - 2. B. Wiebalck placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. Halftime score was 1 - 2. Neither team was controlling the possession at this point in the match, with the stats showing a 50:50 split.

The Thunderchild players spent the break getting a rerun of the team's tactical organisation and regained a passable organisation when the game started again. On any other day, H. Goodacre's free kick would have found the back of the net to tie the game for Preachers, but not today - the visitors' keeper displayed extraordinary reflexes as he blocked the shot harmlessly to the side. After 69 minutes, Preachers's J. Ortiz fell awkwardly, but was determined to stay in the match. That's the spirit! Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Preachers's J. Slet-Pedersen was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 70 minutes. A. Karaiskakis was given a chance to change things around. After 70 minutes, Preachers switched G. Healy with E. Duggan, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. With 80 minutes played, the Preachers coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. M. Carr came on, J. Bittner had to leave the fray. The intense heat forced B. Wiebalck into making some errors because he couldn't seem to keep up with the others. Preachers had most of the ball, with 53 percent of possession.

Preachers's best player was J. Fabes. J. Ortiz on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Thunderchild player was R. Grant. P. Canà turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 1 - 2.