Europa 1 - 3 Bramsche (393156012)

Clouds darkened the skies at Europa Park as 293 spectators turned up for the match. Jan Künzli was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Decebal-Traian Dogaru and Zoltan Meran. Europa decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. Starters: Jancker - Ruohonen, Wiedek, Zandi - Barby, Gostkowski, Tuktarov, Horn, Pawlik - Salibian, Ormeño.

A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Bramsche. They fielded: Nussbaum - Burkersroda, Hoeft, Falkner - Eiche, Kaulbarsch, Rainer, Kipp - Heidl, Heilmann, Blicharska.

R. Ormeño of Europa was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Europa took the lead after 28 minutes as a result of S. Wiedek's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 1 - 0. With 34 minutes played, the visitors could have drawn level after B. Heilmann came through the middle, but his kick went wide. The visitors didn't give in and, after 35 minutes, W. Rainer got through the home side's central line of defence, rolling in the equaliser to make it 1 - 1. Europa could have put themselves ahead after 37 minutes but S. Wiedek missed a volley shot on a ball coming in from the right. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 1. Bramsche claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

Given a free kick in a difficult position after 55 minutes, Europa tried a variation that they had practised in training. The kick was sent into the area just in front of the keeper. However, the defence were on their toes and allowed no space for a finish. Bramsche took the lead 83 minutes into the game, making the score 1 - 2 after some elegant movement down the middle. E. Hoeft was the scorer. The cannonball from 35 metres by V. Horn of Europa was an impressive sight, but didn't make it into the net. M. Kaulbarsch increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 1 - 3. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave W. Heidl from Bramsche a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 86 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Bramsche, with 55 percent of the ball.

Europa's top performer was clearly N. Barby. However, R. Ormeño made a disastrous appearance. M. Kipp performed admirably for Bramsche. A. Nussbaum on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 1 - 3.