The crowd of 26500 turning up at wanganui tech Arena today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Antonino Statti was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Rafael Palicz and Laust Bojsen. wanganui had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kenesei - Vorhauer, Alexandersson, Vinuesa - Koźlik, Davis, Huijgen, Struyf, Nagle - Benevrechki, Gat.

Simba started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Calligaro - Beijar, Mira Castro, Chaplain - Bebb, Prentice, Haigh, Trainer, Booden - Lantinga, Muntila.

The terraces were silenced after 6 minutes when Simba's K. Lantinga put the guests ahead 0 - 1, following an attack on the right. The crowd was amused as K. Bebb of Simba used a few interesting tricks and dribbles to get into the penalty box. The finish by K. Lantinga wasn't very amusing, however, as the ball flew way over the crossbar. A defender managed to keep the ball from crossing the goal-line after a curling shot coming in from the right from K. Muntila after 15 minutes, and prevented Simba from going up another goal. With 28 minutes played, wanganui's D. Davis found an opening in the visitors' left side defence, but his shot was handled easily by the keeper. The teams went for the halftime break at 0 - 1. Simba claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 64 percent.

S. Chaplain didn't let the weather get him down and made some great moves on the pitch in spite of the rain. K. Muntila came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over A. Kenesei but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. After 60 minutes a combination in the middle resulted in a through ball for M. Haigh who increased Simba's lead to 0 - 2. wanganui's T. Gat got the home crowd going when he finished off a left wing charge, reducing the away team's lead to 1 - 2. M. Haigh could have put his team up another goal 81 minutes into the game, after a rush down the left, but his closing shot hit the post. 82 minutes into the game, M. Vinuesa came close to levelling the score with a dangerous shot from the centre of the area that went just over the bar. D. Davis did not have a good day today, often losing his footing on the muddy pitch. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Simba, with 66 percent of the ball.

Most important wanganui player was T. Gat. P. Koźlik on the other hand, had a terrible day. K. Prentice performed admirably for Simba. S. Chaplain turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 1 - 2.