Spartan300 0 - 5 Chilton (390102840)

A brilliantly sunny day had enticed a crowd of 17406 to Thermopylae. Per Stjärngren was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Paavo Vätti and Constantin Constantin. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Spartan300. Lineup: Armandi - Bodale, Battazza, Arcieri, Mandese - Arcari, Cantini, Papapietro, Marri - Dal Rio, Floris.

Chilton started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players took the field: Detter - Churruca, Lapinkangas, Snelders - Harper, Dyjak, Bourne, Ciccarelli, Lowden - Badger, Kenzelmann.

Chilton clearly preferred using their ability to attack in the middle. Chilton players heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their wing attacks to the middle instead. Chilton took the lead 9 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. A. Churruca was the scorer. With 11 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed J. Badger of Chilton to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 0 - 2. Chilton were determined to attack in the middle, even their wing attacks ended up centrally. After 27 minutes, Chilton's P. Kenzelmann burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 3. The players of Chilton now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. J. Badger received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 32 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 4. The Chilton fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. 0 - 4 was the halftime score. Chilton enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 82 percent of possession.

It was obvious that team Chilton had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. Given a free kick close to the byline, Chilton tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let S. Dyjak slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 0 - 5, 63 minutes into the game. Chilton had a good opportunity to attack on the wing, but remembered their instructions to go for middle attacks. After the ball was lifted in from the left, P. Kenzelmann was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 75 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Chilton, with 82 percent of the ball.

Spartan300's top performer was clearly N. Dal Rio. P. Cantini on the other hand, had a terrible day. S. Dyjak performed admirably for Chilton. On the other hand, G. Ciccarelli's play was disheartening. The match ends 0 - 5.