Gibson 1 - 2 Duff (390841760)

Dark skies made the crowd of 30458 at TRIOMFALS SOMNIS a little nervous, but the rain held off. Johann Birbaum was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Utku Peksoy and Valentin Čadek. Gibson started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. The following players took the field: Meirov - Sangiorgi, Riede-Schuetz, Yağın - Vuorinen, Savković, Chavez, Montenegro, Hansen - Camisassa, de Zwarte.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Duff. Starters: Hernández Alba - Önem, Kauczor, Řípa - Kotrulev, Pérez, Shangin, Selçuk, Orsini - Pierantozzi, Pupa.

The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave Q. Sangiorgi from Gibson a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 19 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Unfortunately for Duff, T. Pupa was injured when the game became more physical, and he had to leave the field. S. Puré replaced him. After 22 minutes, Duff put themselves up 0 - 1, as M. Pierantozzi finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. V. Kotrulev of Duff took advantage of a mistake on the home side's right after 26 minutes which increased the away team's lead to 0 - 2. J. Vuorinen missed an opportunity to score from the penalty spot 28 minutes into the match, dashing the hopes of the home side. 29 minutes into the game Duff managed a counterattack, but S. Puré took a soft shot from the left flank that was easy prey for the alert keeper. It was 0 - 2 at the break. Possession in this half belonged to Gibson, who controlled the ball 52 percent of the time.

With a penalty awarded after 55 minutes, Gibson's J. Vuorinen placed the ball low and to the keeper's right, impossible to block. 1 - 2. A good free kick by J. Vuorinen would have scored the equaliser for Gibson, had it not been for the dramatic save by the visitors' goalkeeper. Some fine passing in the middle of the pitch, carving open the away defence, should have led to a goal for Gibson, but J. Montenegro's shot went over the bar. Duff claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 51 percent.

Gibson's top performer was clearly D. Meirov. O. Hansen turned in a dismal performance, however. Duff's best player was M. Pierantozzi. M. Shangin was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 2.