swa 3 - 2 Haag (390288034)

23559 spectators had found their way to swa Arena, despite the heavy rain. Daniel Dommer-Toft was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Sjoerd Timman and Huub Baremans. swa started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Ypenburg - Warnink, Verroen, Godlieb - Holtkamp, Kooiker, van der Schrier, van Spronsen, Reijerse - Espina, Tollenaar.

Haag had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Starters: Florença - Wasawong, Byrial Hansen, Stancu - Nijholt, Ganseuer, Udesen, Zarpen, Stamenov - Hasselbalch, Guillot.

Haag used their ability to concentrate their attacks in the middle of the pitch, rather than on the wings. Having been awarded a free kick in an awkward position after 37 minutes, Haag did not go for a shot but instead fired the ball hard into the 6 yard box. After a brief tussle with his marker, A. Nijholt was able to power the ball past the keeper to make the score 0 - 1. swa's T. Verroen was shown a yellow card after 38 minutes for slicing down an opponent. After a fatal mistake from the away team's right side defence 42 minutes into the match, an alert J. Holtkamp bagged the ball for swa, levelling the score to 1 - 1. After some beautiful movement down the left wing, I. Espina scored for swa putting them ahead 2 - 1, after 43 minutes. The teams went for the halftime break at 2 - 1. swa enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 66 percent of possession.

The score became 3 - 1 at 63 minutes into the game, when swa were given a penalty which I. Espina blasted straight down the middle giving the keeper no chance! After this, you could see that the players of swa were more interested in killing time than scoring more goals. The home side's T. Tollenaar came close to extending the lead 68 minutes into the game. His shot came in from the right hand side but G. Florença managed to save it with an unbelievable reaction stop. A corner kick created great disorder in the penalty area with a goal nearly scored by E. Ganseuer. At last, Haag's A. Nijholt was able to backheel the ball in. 3 - 2. W. Kooiker wanted to play on, but the swa coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 81 minutes into the game by C. Guedira. C. Ypenburg was handed the swa captain's armband. The swa players could smell victory in the air. J. Holtkamp wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for Ð. Vranić after 83 minutes. Thighs bulging, S. Godlieb charged past the weaker players, seemingly oblivious to the rain. swa had to manage with a reduced squad after 85 minutes, as C. Guedira got sent off for a needless foul away from the game's action. T. Verroen could have put swa up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left after 86 minutes. swa claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 61 percent.

I. Espina performed admirably for swa. Ð. Vranić on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Haag player was J. Guillot. G. Florença turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 3 - 2.