McLaren 1 - 2 t4e (390273189)

The weather was pretty good, and a crowd of 25684 had shown up at Nick's Place for the match. Billy De Flandre was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Victor Anton and Manuel Montanarella. McLaren tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Pascal - Bogaers, Wenzel, Ventriglia - van Ekeren, Czina, Fiorito, van 't Klooster, Bogg - Bacon, Bikus.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for t4e. Starters: Sivoronovas - Johansen, Boersma, Dickson - Nylund, Trivisonno, Zemnieks, Ginesu, Romanelli - Roossien, Golod.

t4e's defence sent a ball soaring up the middle on a beautiful counterattack with 19 minutes gone, but J. Johansen's finish was met by the reaching hands of the keeper. J. Roossien caught everyone off guard with a great opening pass - but unfortunately N. Romanelli was as surprised by the move as anybody else, and managed to miss the extraordinary opportunity. McLaren had a good opportunity to take the lead as H. Bacon came up the left side, but he struck the ball weakly and it went straight into the arms of G. Sivoronovas. t4e's K. Nylund was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 42 minutes. After 44 minutes of play, S. Bikus gave the home team a 1 - 0 lead after an attack coming in from the right. t4e's M. Trivisonno had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 44 minutes having been played. F. Berruti was the replacement. t4e tied it all up, 44 minutes in, after a spectacular goal by D. Golod, who miraculously broke through the home side's central defence, making it 1 - 1. It was 1 - 1 at the break. McLaren had most of the ball, with 59 percent of possession.

G. Pascal would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. K. Świrgoń entered the game for McLaren as the match clock showed 46 minutes. 1 - 2 was the score with 55 minutes played, after E. Boersma cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for t4e. As D. Golod had, completely unprovoked, swept the legs out from under an opponent in front of a linesman, the referee gave the t4e player a red card without batting an eyelid. McLaren's R. van Ekeren was shown a yellow card after 78 minutes for slicing down an opponent. McLaren tried to even things up by sending a long ball towards the centrally placed strikers, but the visitors' defence got the best of this rather direct style of play. After 87 minutes McLaren's V. Bogaers contracted a slight foot injury, but didn't want to leave the game. McLaren enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 57 percent of possession.

The most dominating McLaren player was without a doubt H. Bacon. On the other hand, K. Świrgoń's play was disheartening. t4e's best player was J. Roossien. G. Sivoronovas turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 1 - 2.