Tainio 3 - 6 theebest (390171431)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 12000 at Tainio Arena today. Nicolae Andrei was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Stian Roland and Albert Błaszyk. Everyone was excited about the upcoming Greater Manchester derby and the crowd was divided evenly. Tainio started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Cartledge - Huzzard, Rudrum, Fountain, Mooney - Steel, Llywarch, McNulty, Carrol - Ralstoun, Westby.

A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for theebest. Starters: Colton - Ramsbottom, Moir, Lyley, Oliver - Eastham, Brodie, Wood, Chelmsford - Williams, Whitehouse.

The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave A. Steel from Tainio a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 5 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! theebest's S. Moir could have put the guests one up after 18 minutes after chasing a through ball from the right, but M. Cartledge was as fast as a snake, grabbing the ball from under his nose. D. Fountain of Tainio seemed to be floating in the air as he elegantly headed in to make the score 1 - 0 after a corner kick that was nicely executed by K. Huzzard. S. Wood finished off a quick charge from the left of the field by chipping the ball just past the home side's keeper, making the score 1 - 1 26 minutes into the match. After 28 minutes, theebest's I. Williams made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 1 - 2. A drive down the left side allowed W. Whitehouse to get in close and score another goal for theebest after 32 minutes, taking the score to 1 - 3. The visiting supporters hurled a torrent of abuse at the referee when a questionable free kick after 33 minutes led to a goal for K. Huzzard, who scored to make it 2 - 3. 2 - 3 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to theebest, who controlled the ball 53 percent of the time.

With 58 minutes played, seemingly due to lack of experience, A. Brodie needlessly tripped an opponent just outside the penalty area, but the free kick that followed didn't succeed. The referee signalled a penalty 60 minutes into the game following an offence which looked like it was outside the box. R. Ramsbottom knocked it home to make the score 2 - 4. C. Llywarch of Tainio was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. With 71 minutes played, a quick exchange of passes on the left wing freed S. Wood of theebest to slip through the defence and score another goal for the visitors. That made the score 2 - 5. Confident in their lead, theebest's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. theebest's J. Lyley was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 81 minutes. An accurate cross from A. Steel of Tainio was met with a wonderful glancing header from D. Westby, hitting the inside base of the post before nestling into the back of the net for 3 - 5. A. Brodie of theebest took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 87 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 3 - 6. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by theebest, with 54 percent of the ball.

K. Huzzard performed admirably for Tainio. M. Cartledge turned in a dismal performance, however. theebest's top performer was clearly W. Whitehouse. On the other hand, S. Wood's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 6.