Sarispor 1 - 2 Birlik (390441483)

Clouds darkened the skies at Saritepe as 3735 spectators turned up for the match. Bengt Fredriksson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Hans-Georg Burgau and Yiannis Maratos. Sarispor had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. Lineup: Csörsz - Aripuanã, Cluistra, Indra - Ļaudāms, Soler, Zając, Strating, Escamilla - Moeleker, Coraini.

Birlik tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. Starters: Lehmann - Chakara, Taxis, Lemonde - Igala, Abbasi, Bai, Ramaccioni, Chiappi - Ravesteijn, Boot.

The wings were the focus of most of Sarispor's attacks today. Birlik saw most attack opportunities on the wings. It was obvious that Birlik had instructions to attack on the wings instead of in the middle. Attacking on the wings was the choice for Sarispor, and they were successfully passing the ball from the middle to the wings to attack. Sarispor were very close to putting themselves one up after 21 minutes as K. Cluistra got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. After some beautiful movement down the left wing, J. Aripuanã scored for Sarispor putting them ahead 1 - 0, after 35 minutes. 36 minutes in, Birlik's G. Lemonde received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. With 38 minutes played, K. Cluistra of Sarispor fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. Halftime score was 1 - 0. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Sarispor, with 51 percent of the ball.

Some brilliant football from the visitors' right wing resulted in a levelling of the score as Birlik's K. Chakara put the ball in the onion bag after 49 minutes to make it 1 - 1. Birlik were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. Sarispor could have put themselves ahead after 79 minutes but G. Coraini missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. Sarispor made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in on the right hand side left M. Indra completely alone with keeper L. Lehmann, who made a spectacular block. Sarispor were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. 86 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for Sarispor to take the lead after a good cross from the right found E. Strating alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 87 minutes allowed I. Abbasi to score for Birlik. The scoreboard now read 1 - 2. Possession was split evenly between the teams.

Most important Sarispor player was C. Moeleker. P. Csörsz was a disappointment, however. P. Boot performed admirably for Birlik. D. Taxis on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 2.