fishchips 0 - 3 Mernisa (393081858)

It had rained all day, but 2614 hardy fans still made it out to Fisherman Arena. János Bikácsy was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Diede Flach and Marco Resende Costa. fishchips had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. The following players had been chosen: Wauters - Manfredini, Pandiani, Tibbetts - Garavaglia, Parker, Barry, Willox - Tipton, Collar, Falconer.

Mernisa started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: Barbouri - Mumcu, Métayer, Łosowski - Belkhiri, Fabris, Batouli, Nadal, Koufi - Deliu, El-Hafed.

Mernisa were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. Thighs bulging, R. Parker charged past the weaker players, seemingly oblivious to the rain. After 26 minutes, Mernisa's S. Batouli made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 0 - 1. J. Tibbetts was uncomfortable with the soggy pitch as he couldn't move the ball around with his usual grace. A penalty was awarded after 27 minutes, and R. Łosowski made the most of his chance to put Mernisa up by another goal. 0 - 2 for the visitors. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Mernisa lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. Halftime score was 0 - 2. Mernisa claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 59 percent.

Mernisa increased their lead after 51 minutes when A. El-Hafed broke through on the right, upping the score to 0 - 3, much to the home crowd's dismay. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, fishchips's G. Garavaglia was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 76 minutes. D. Lesignoli was given a chance to change things around. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave F. Fabris from Mernisa a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 80 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! 83 minutes into the game, I. Belkhiri had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came Y. Zaidi. After 84 minutes, fishchips's D. Collar fell awkwardly, but was determined to stay in the match. That's the spirit! D. Wauters kept the home side in the game with a magnificent save when R. Łosowski delivered an almost perfect free kick to the far post. fishchips's T. Tipton was shown a yellow card after 88 minutes for slicing down an opponent. With 89 minutes played, P. Willox's free kick looked like a certain goal for fishchips, but to his teammates' dismay, the keeper managed to tip it wide. Mernisa's M. Koufi got himself booked for a foul. Mernisa enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 59 percent of possession.

G. Falconer performed admirably for fishchips. On the other hand, D. Collar's play was disheartening. Mernisa's best player was V. Deliu. M. Barbouri was a disappointment, however. The match ends 0 - 3.