Olivburg 3 - 0 FC ESA (392949126)

1208 fans braved the pouring rain at Olivburg Arena. Teofil Kaja was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Bengt ''Nöte'' Karlsson and Bjarne Kristensen. Olivburg decided to use a 4-5-1 set up. Starters: Uhlenhörn - Schwabach, Schmuden, Eminger, Rosendorff - Souchet, Treseder-Griffin, Gallus, Ferus, Zabai - Cociuba.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for FC ESA. The following players took the field: Kenyon - Valmari, Badylec, Holten - Falkgren, Erdozaín, Zetterstad, Cap, Kolev - Paasivirta, Koton.

Pressing was the tactic of the day for Olivburg. It was a bad day for the usually speedy M. Schwabach. The mud seemed to slow him down. M. Zetterstad received some harsh words from his coach after he acted foolishly 24 minutes into the match, probably out of lack of experience, and almost let an opponent score. Olivburg fans held their breath as H. Ferus scampered down the left side. He successfully avoided all challenges and cracked home the shot for 1 - 0! The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave S. Cap from FC ESA a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 32 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! A loud groan was heard from the fans of Olivburg, as K. Eminger left the pitch in too much pain to finish the match. C. Simkin took his place on the field. 34 minutes into the game, Olivburg seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to passable. After 36 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and C. Cociuba gave the Olivburg supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 2 - 0. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Olivburg lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, C. Cociuba got himself booked. The manager of Olivburg was not happy. Olivburg's ability to press all over the field frequently paid dividends. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Olivburg's G. Gallus increasing the lead to 3 - 0. Olivburg's A. Souchet swung in a good chance from the left, but the visitors' defence were able to clear the ball. Halftime score was 3 - 0. Olivburg claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 67 percent.

During the break, Olivburg's coach went through the team's tactics yet again, getting them up to solid organisation. G. Zabai could have increased the lead after 49 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. FC ESA's J. Erdozaín was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 70 minutes. H. Ferus was having a great game - if anything the pouring rain seemed to be spurring him on! 81 minutes into the game, Olivburg seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a inadequate level of organisation. With 87 minutes gone, Olivburg had a free kick in a decent position. Despite this being a great chance for a shot, they tried a cheeky move intended to bypass the defence. However, A. Souchet did not manage to connect with it cleanly and the ball went out. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Olivburg, with 69 percent of the ball.

Olivburg's best player was C. Cociuba. However, M. Uhlenhörn made a disastrous appearance. K. Paasivirta performed admirably for FC ESA. M. Valmari turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 3 - 0.