Carolus 3 - 5 Thorgal (390246202)

It was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 51824 that came out to De Onneembare Vesting. Claude Sanchez was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ragnar Vada and Paco Villars. Carolus had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. They fielded: Văcărescu - Inam, Disch, Komárek - Welgemoed, Dekkers, Reinares, Sisan, Bubnár - Ügü, Windhoud.

A 5-3-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Thorgal. The following players took the field: Kerdijk - Schalken, Emich, Reinders, Oosterveer, Snijder - Smalhout, Vergoossen, Kwanten - Deinema, Bot.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Thorgal. Carolus had a good opportunity to take the lead as E. Bubnár came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of G. Kerdijk. The goal to make it 0 - 1 was scored by G. Kwanten after 10 minutes, following an opportunistic counterattack down the middle by Thorgal. Some fine movement on the left led to a Thorgal goal after 14 minutes, making it 0 - 2. I. Deinema was noted down as the scorer. B. Windhoud charged down the left and looked sure to score for Carolus 15 minutes into the game, but his shot went just wide. After 22 minutes, Carolus's M. Reinares fell awkwardly, but was determined to stay in the match. That's the spirit! Thorgal's A. Smalhout made it through the home team's defence on the right hand side 25 minutes into the match. After rounding the keeper, he only had to place the ball in the unguarded goal when a defender slid in and cleared the ball off the line. 28 minutes into the match, Carolus's A. Ügü collected a ball sent down the right and put it in the back of the net, narrowing the score to 1 - 2. After 33 minutes, Thorgal's G. Bot burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 1 - 3. Carolus's A. Ügü cut towards the middle after 38 minutes, receiving a brilliant pass and slicing through the visiting team's central defence, reducing the lead to 2 - 3. 2 - 3 was the halftime score. Carolus claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 60 percent.

E. Bubnár didn't pace himself at all, and after a series of daring offensive runs he was too tired to help out in the defensive play. G. Bot received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 72 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 2 - 4. The Thorgal fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave R. Welgemoed from Carolus a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 86 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! The visiting supporters hurled a torrent of abuse at the referee when a questionable free kick after 87 minutes led to a goal for M. Sisan, who scored to make it 3 - 4. With 88 minutes played, Thorgal's well-worked indirect free kick caused havoc in the penalty area, and when the ball eventually fell to A. Smalhout he gleefully slotted the ball home to make it 3 - 5. Carolus enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 60 percent of possession.

A. Ügü performed admirably for Carolus. O. Inam turned in a dismal performance, however. Most important Thorgal player was I. Deinema. On the other hand, T. Emich's play was disheartening. The match ends 3 - 5.