Sporting 1 - 5 Adjud (392841888)

Dark skies made the crowd of 26931 at Nicolae Dobrin a little nervous, but the rain held off. Lennaert van der Lee was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Frode Henriksen and Larry Allemann. Sporting decided to use a 4-5-1 set up. Lineup: Toader - Aletten, Saguir, Ignat, Predoiu - Gabrea, Alegre Martínez, Csokonay, Tryk, Fehl - Miclea.

Adjud tactics involved an interesting 5-4-1 combination. Starters: Elzinga - Silaghi, Ranj, Ciceu, Enăchescu, Silaghi - Bucşe, Oltran, Asanov, Bondar - Zindel.

It was obvious that Sporting were using their pressing skill as their primary tactic. For their match strategy, Adjud had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. M. Enăchescu of Adjud seemed to be floating in the air as he elegantly headed in to make the score 0 - 1 after a corner kick that was nicely executed by S. Silaghi. Adjud earned themselves a free kick after a counterattack wasn't dealt with adequately by their opponents. S. Silaghi powered the shot in for 0 - 2. U. Zindel increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 0 - 3. After 31 minutes, the defensive line of Adjud created a counterattack through the middle that gave U. Zindel a good look at the goal, but his shot glanced harmlessly off the crossbar. Halftime score was 0 - 3. Sporting claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 69 percent.

Adjud almost scored after a counterattack 71 minutes into the match, but N. Bucşe took a shot from the left that landed harmlessly in the side of the net. U. Zindel knocked one home from a counterattack down the right wing, making the score 0 - 4 after 74 minutes. The players of Adjud now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. As M. Enăchescu had, completely unprovoked, swept the legs out from under an opponent in front of a linesman, the referee gave the Adjud player a red card without batting an eyelid. D. Toader of Sporting had to be helped off the pitch as an injury meant he was unable to finish the game. F. Roşca came in to finish the match. The home crowd was not impressed when N. Bucşe came in from the right, shooting hard to score after 85 minutes. Adjud were now up 0 - 5. With 86 minutes on the clock, E. Saguir surprised the guests' goalkeeper with a snappy free kick, which reduced their lead to 1 - 5. Sporting enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 69 percent of possession.

Most important Sporting player was G. Ignat. On the other hand, N. Predoiu's play was disheartening. Adjud's top performer was clearly U. Zindel. J. Oltran was a disappointment, however. The match ends 1 - 5.