Love 0 - 3 philmarnock (390063252)

It had rained all day, but 33303 hardy fans still made it out to The Shack. Octávio Fernandes was the appointed referee. Love tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. Lineup: Marčev - Ross, Broderick, Ilie - Ashton, Lockhart, Rybkin, Chaplain - Al-Sulaiman, Rispoli, Prescott.

philmarnock started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Biffi - Cashmore, Freghetti, Jeantet - Warzywoda, Mantilla, Johnsen, Bögebjerg, Gallagher - Alibali, Perämäki.

The muddy pitch made the game a gritty affair, which seemed to suit B. Prescott just fine. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 18 minutes allowed H. Bögebjerg to score for philmarnock. The scoreboard now read 0 - 1. Love tried to even things up by sending a long ball towards the centrally placed strikers, but the visitors' defence got the best of this rather direct style of play. philmarnock increased their lead after 20 minutes when H. Perämäki broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 2, much to the home crowd's dismay. J. Marčev got a fingertip on T. Johnsen's shot from the left 31 minutes in, and managed to keep the visitors from going up another goal. Love's T. Lockhart got himself booked for a foul. A loud groan was heard from the fans of philmarnock, as P. Gallagher left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. G. Bella took his place on the field. H. Perämäki was struggling to make the ball dance with his usual trickery and panache, and the opposing players had little trouble shutting him down in these muddy conditions. Love's A. Broderick found himself alone on the left side 42 minutes into the match and laid down a perfect shot - right into the arms of the keeper! 0 - 2 was the halftime score. Love enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 51 percent of possession.

The home side worked their way through the middle and almost got one back when Z. Al-Sulaiman tried to sneak the ball past the keeper. I. Biffi was too alert for that! The coach of philmarnock was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 60 minutes, G. Rizzello came on for H. Bögebjerg. As the captain was no longer on the pitch, M. Cashmore took over the role of being the philmarnock captain. With 70 minutes played, philmarnock's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to L. Jeantet he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 0 - 3. By now, the players in philmarnock felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. After the ball was lifted in from the left, M. Cashmore was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 77 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from H. Perämäki after 78 minutes, and prevented philmarnock from going up another goal. Possession in this half belonged to philmarnock, who controlled the ball 54 percent of the time.

Love's best player was Z. Al-Sulaiman. A. Ross was a disappointment, however. Most important philmarnock player was L. Jeantet. On the other hand, G. Bella's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 3.