Elkos 5 - 4 Mila (390218415)

A scorching day at Elkos Stadium, where 12000 spectators were in place for today's match. Adrián Castaño Párraga was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Eugène Mounier and Wolfgünter Jantzen. Elkos tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. Lineup: Mokhbi - Ghanes, Mabrouk, Mehaoued, Halli - Benali, Khellaf, Annad, Slimane - Madouni, Zekri.

Mila had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Dorbani - Atek, Mehaddi, Benarbia, Safar - Smaili, Barthel, Zoghlami, Zine - Hadj Ali, Arour.

One of many good crosses from A. Smaili on the wing was received and skillfully taken care of by B. Zine, who scored for Mila. 0 - 1 Several players seemed a little dazed by the warm weather, and were repeatedly tricked by the clever and agile A. Slimane. The crowd chanted their encouragement as Elkos's A. Slimane came in from the right after 20 minutes and put the ball in the net to level the score at 1 - 1. With 26 minutes played, B. Benarbia of Mila fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. Elkos took the lead 27 minutes in, as C. Benali broke through on the left and put the 2 - 1 shot just beyond the reach of the outstretched keeper. The visitors refused to give in and, after 30 minutes, N. Hadj Ali evened things up as he finished off a perfect pass from the right. 2 - 2 Mila took the lead after 32 minutes making the score 2 - 3. B. Zine placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. Elkos made it 3 - 3 as A. Slimane got a touch to the floated corner kick and flicked the ball to N. Mehaoued who whipped a low drive in off the far post. 3 - 4 was the score with 42 minutes played, after B. Zine cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Mila. That made three goals for B. Zine and he was marked down for the hat trick. Elkos's C. Benali got himself booked for a foul. 3 - 4 was the halftime score. Elkos claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

The heat made it a terrible day for S. Arour, who seemed unable to keep up with the other players. Some fine passing in the middle of the pitch, carving open the away defence, should have led to a goal for Elkos, but Z. Annad's shot went over the bar. After a fatal mistake from the away team's right side defence 58 minutes into the match, an alert A. Madouni bagged the ball for Elkos, levelling the score to 4 - 4. Mila's N. Safar was shown a yellow card after 63 minutes for slicing down an opponent. The player down was K. Mabrouk. The Elkos bench looked worried for a while, but in the end he managed to get up. 71 minutes into the match, Mila nearly took the lead, as N. Hadj Ali broke through on the right. K. Mokhbi made the save, however. Elkos broke through on the left 72 minutes into the game, with A. Slimane firing in from an acute angle to give the home side a 5 - 4 lead. The intense heat forced N. Safar into making some errors because he couldn't seem to keep up with the others. Possession in this half belonged to Elkos, who controlled the ball 57 percent of the time.

Most important Elkos player was A. Zekri. On the other hand, K. Mokhbi's play was disheartening. The most dominating Mila player was without a doubt N. Hadj Ali. B. Dorbani on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 5 - 4.