Sporting 3 - 2 Baldock (390066540)

Clear skies welcomed the 29205 spectators who had made their way to St George's Arena. Felipe Alegre was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Eugène Le Roux and Aybars Kurtdoğan. Sporting had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. They fielded: Stucki - Predescu, Riba, Scala - Berger, Stefansen, Hernando, Stephens - Briggs, Scagliarini, Johansson.

Baldock started off with a 4-5-1 lineup. Starters: Deschka - Palmer, Kushniruk, Hercegfalvy, Gregory - Geisler, Smrke, Bratu, Kuil, Zilz - Calderón.

Sporting mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. Baldock's G. Hercegfalvy managed to lose the defenders as he advanced down the right wing and scored, putting the visitors ahead after 17 minutes. 0 - 1. Having been awarded a free kick in an awkward position after 19 minutes, Sporting 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. Stephens was able to power the ball past the keeper to make the score 1 - 1. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to L. Predescu, but the Sporting player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 2 - 1! 2 - 1 was the score after the first half. Sporting had most of the ball, with 56 percent of possession.

H. Stucki's name was chanted throughout the stadium after he made a fantastic save from M. Gregory's shot from the left 51 minutes into the match. After a savage shot that could only be parried by the keeper, J. Stephens demonstrated his experience by being in just the right place to slot home the rebound. His goal for Sporting 68 minutes into the match made the score 3 - 1. Sporting were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. L. Predescu had a fantastic opportunity to put Sporting up another goal 73 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. The counterattacks of Baldock were deadly and 79 minutes into the game, L. Smrke received a nice pass from the right flank, making it 3 - 2. After 80 minutes Baldock's G. Hercegfalvy contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. Possession in this half belonged to Sporting, who controlled the ball 54 percent of the time.

Sporting's top performer was clearly G. Briggs. However, A. Berger made a disastrous appearance. L. Calderón performed admirably for Baldock. N. Bratu was a disappointment, however. The match ends 3 - 2.