Cov 2 - 0 Rockingham (393214542)

Clouds darkened the skies at New Ricoh, Deal. as 37500 spectators turned up for the match. Jacob Blicher was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Flo Orosz and Rolf Olenmar. Cov tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. The following players had been chosen: Richards - Fitzpatrick, Case, Brady, Ainslie - Sherborn, Ashworth, Cumming, Crawford, Digger - Keegan.

A 4-5-1 alignment was the formation of choice for Rockingham. Starters: Del Pozo - Laftsis, Valdivieso, Nevin, Thomas - Lønbæk, Bradwell, Schlicht, Louden, Grant - Zubizarreta.

Cov clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. Rockingham were relying on their ability to counter-attack. The guests almost went up by a goal after 6 minutes when F. Bradwell came through and shot from the right. The ball bounced harmlessly off the post, though. 29 minutes had elapsed when a great chance for Cov to take the lead after a good cross from the right found R. Keegan alone with the keeper, but he chipped it to the wrong side of the post. A counterattack by Rockingham after 30 minutes could have resulted in a goal, but I. Laftsis, coming in on the left, couldn't get the shot off. The referee showed Rockingham's N. Nevin the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. Halftime score was 0 - 0. Possession in this half belonged to Cov, who controlled the ball 54 percent of the time.

After 55 minutes, the Rockingham coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving G. Louden off the field. J. Maervoet took his place. A. Crawford seemed to be impossibly far from the goal, but he looked up and bang! A real cracker for Cov after 57 minutes. 1 - 0. After 58 minutes, Rockingham switched C. Zubizarreta with H. Anderson, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. Cov caught their opponents out with a clever counterattack down the right wing 69 minutes into the match. B. Case was able to finish off the move - 2 - 0. The bench was restless, and with 70 minutes passed Rockingham's coach gave R. Chance the opportunity the player had been hoping for. F. Bradwell reluctantly left the field. After 72 minutes, following yet another great corner, K. Grant's flick on at the near post reached V. Lønbæk, who was just wide with his snapshot - the ball went out for a goal kick. With 77 minutes played, Cov's R. Keegan almost extended the lead, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. Rockingham had most of the ball, with 56 percent of possession.

Cov's top performer was clearly R. Keegan. However, H. Richards made a disastrous appearance. Most important Rockingham player was H. Anderson. C. Schlicht turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 2 - 0.