Goochelaars 4 - 0 Exodus (390282643)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and De Bal Goochelaars Arena saw a crowd turnout of 36604. Marek Podhorný was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Bret De Baets and Maximilian Stoll. Goochelaars tactics involved an interesting 5-4-1 combination. Starters: Koenders - Bouwmeister, Muskens, de Vos, Loohuis, Aertse - Slijkhuis, Hopmans, Ligtvoet, Colet - Alders.

Exodus had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Kuburtavičius - Jevđević, Mancosu, Zurić - Canto, Koštrun, Meijlink, Brumă, Elkjær - Auranen, Bakels.

Exodus mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. Goochelaars took the lead after 2 minutes as a result of M. Slijkhuis's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 1 - 0. The home side's E. Alders came close to extending the lead 21 minutes into the game. His shot came in from the right hand side but J. Kuburtavičius managed to save it with an unbelievable reaction stop. After 28 minutes, E. Alders put Goochelaars ahead 2 - 0 when he rose to head in a cross from the right wing. Exodus had to make a substitution after 36 minutes. F. Mancosu limped off the field and was replaced by T. Van Loo. The referee showed Exodus's B. Jevđević the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Goochelaars scored another to make it 3 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for G. Colet after 40 minutes. Halftime score was 3 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to Goochelaars, who controlled the ball 55 percent of the time.

After 62 minutes, Exodus switched J. Zurić with E. Bensiñor, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. A speedy charge from the left side of the field increased the lead of Goochelaars to 4 - 0 as W. Muskens finished it off competently, firing in from an acute angle. W. Muskens could have increased the lead after 74 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. E. Alders should probably have put his team up another goal after 75 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by J. Kuburtavičius kept the visitors in the game. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Exodus's F. Canto was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 78 minutes. A. Leshchenko was given a chance to change things around. N. Elkjær was handed the Exodus captain's armband. T. Koštrun of Exodus received a yellow card after 85 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. 87 minutes in, Goochelaars's G. de Vos received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. 88 minutes into the match Exodus's A. Brumă viciously shoved another player from behind while going for a loose ball and was sent off the pitch with a red card. The player down was E. Alders. The Goochelaars bench looked worried for a while, but in the end he managed to get up. Goochelaars had most of the ball, with 60 percent of possession.

D. Hopmans performed admirably for Goochelaars. On the other hand, J. Aertse's play was disheartening. The most dominating Exodus player was without a doubt E. Bensiñor. T. Van Loo was a disappointment, however. The match ends 4 - 0.