It had rained all day, but 14352 hardy fans still made it out to Rainbow Arena. Bruno Hery was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Guglielmo Nigro and Sean Ball. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Rainbow. They fielded: Talaz - Sáenz García, Pasveer, de Winter - Perišić, Jeftić, Burmanje, Iturralde, Gay - van Vught, Cagliostro.

Stratumse had chosen a strategic 4-4-2 formation. Starters: Mormile - Aldewereld, Nghiêm, Fernández, Korniak - Verkerk, Schwender, Huigen, Albertema - Aarnoudse, Baltag.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Stratumse. Â. Nghiêm did not have a good day today, often losing his footing on the muddy pitch. With 29 minutes gone, a long pass from the defence of Stratumse resulted in a counterattack that set A. Baltag free through the middle, but the keeper made a spectacular diving save. Rainbow's F. Gay tried to break through in the middle repeatedly, but couldn't get past the visitors' defenders. Stratumse's T. Albertema was dominating his wing and kept sending fine balls into the opposition's box - S. Aarnoudse managed to volley one of them into the net to make it 0 - 1 after 36 minutes. Some fine passing in the middle of the pitch, carving open the away defence, should have led to a goal for Rainbow, but G. Cagliostro's shot went over the bar. Stratumse's counterattacks created a good chance for A. Baltag on the right after 38 minutes, but he could only look on with dismay as his strike rebounded off the crossbar. Halftime score was 0 - 1. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Rainbow, with 64 percent of the ball.

A well placed corner kick from Ž. Jeftić was followed by J. Pasveer's hard but accurate header. The well executed routine resulted in a goal for Rainbow, the score now 1 - 1. Stratumse had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially 71 minutes in when S. Aarnoudse came up alone against K. Talaz who managed a block. Many thought V. de Winter ought to have been awarded a penalty 75 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around E. Mormile after a determined run through the middle. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, S. Aarnoudse got himself booked. The manager of Stratumse was not happy. A. Baltag had a hard time on the waterlogged pitch - his trademark technique was nowhere in sight today. A. Baltag of Stratumse received a yellow card after 89 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Rainbow had most of the ball, with 64 percent of possession.

Rainbow's best player was Ž. Jeftić. J. Pasveer turned in a dismal performance, however. Most important Stratumse player was S. Aarnoudse. On the other hand, Â. Nghiêm's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 1.