Oefening 3 - 1 Valmo (390241887)

Due to an all-day shower, 46135 paying spectators got to see a match on a pitch-turned-bog at Door Oefening Sterk Arena. Luis Sánchez-Pertejo was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Grigory Chernavin and Wolff Bräuer. Oefening started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. The following players took the field: Lezcano - Armengol, Burger - Bakiera, Ganahl, Vāgūzis, Cami, Züfle - Lanunziata, Atar, Kratochvíl.

Valmo decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. Starters: Areosa - Derman, Bardill, Trenta, Gorgievik - Alsoy, van Blitterswijk, Botzen, Viitalähde - Rautio, Vagrande.

Valmo clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. Oefening could have put themselves ahead after 9 minutes but S. Atar missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. B. Alsoy was in the clear after breaking the offside trap following a Valmo counterattack from the left after 23 minutes. His neat finish made the score 0 - 1. The referee showed Valmo's P. Viitalähde the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. With 34 minutes having been played, Oefening scored to make it 1 - 1. A dribble down the left wing, followed by a shot which took a wicked bounce off a defender resulted in the keeper having no chance. Everyone thought it'd been an own goal, but I. Züfle was marked down as the scorer. It was a fine day for P. Viitalähde on his wing, his cross pass to R. Rautio was especially delicate 38 minutes into the game, but the keeper saved. Oefening had a good opportunity to take the lead as O. Kratochvíl came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of C. Areosa. The referee signaled a penalty for the home side after 41 minutes, amid vocal protests from the visitors. Oefening fans erupted in celebration as S. Cami rifled the ball into the the top corner. 2 - 1! It was 2 - 1 at the break. Oefening had most of the ball, with 66 percent of possession.

D. Lezcano's name was chanted throughout the stadium after he made a fantastic save from S. Bardill's shot from the left 70 minutes into the match. Valmo almost scored after a swift counterattack 78 minutes into the game, but C. Botzen put the shot from the left flank just outside the goal. 81 minutes in, Oefening's M. Ganahl received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Oefening's G. Lanunziata was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 82 minutes. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. G. Vāgūzis squirmed through their central defence after 84 minutes, increasing the lead to 3 - 1. Confident in their lead, Oefening's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. S. Atar had a hard time on the waterlogged pitch - his trademark technique was nowhere in sight today. G. Lanunziata unleashed a swerving effort from the right that the visitors' keeper did well to tip wide. Oefening claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 67 percent.

Oefening's best player was O. Kratochvíl. On the other hand, Z. Bakiera's play was disheartening. The most dominating Valmo player was without a doubt R. Rautio. However, B. Derman made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 1.