Goodkarma 0 - 1 Lightnings (393214588)

Dark skies made the crowd of 54299 at Good Karma FC Arena a little nervous, but the rain held off. Rogelio Urmeneta was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Corentin Chaboud and Aymeric Vetter. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Goodkarma. Lineup: Perez García - Badiali, Gerstlauer, Jermakowicz - Odden, Barfield, Nedelka, Revuelta, Hatemi - Payet, Blănaru.

Lightnings started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: Tamiolakis - Grainger, Karikko, Jangaziev - Fleetwood, Pettersen, Maladenis, Weiss, Coutts - Quaid, Cantoni.

Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for Goodkarma. The wings were the focus of most of Lightnings's attacks today. With 5 minutes played S. Payet almost gave the home side the lead with an unexpected free kick set up, but the visitors' M. Tamiolakis was onto it, grabbing the would be breakthrough ball. B. Fleetwood delivered a good free kick from an excellent position 22 minutes into the game, but luck wasn't on Lightnings's side this time and the ball went wide. Lightnings's Y. Maladenis managed to lose the defenders as he advanced down the right wing and scored, putting the visitors ahead after 34 minutes. 0 - 1. 0 - 1 was the halftime score. Lightnings claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 59 percent.

C. Quaid came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over B. Perez García but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. With the clock showing 49 minutes played, a great pass from the defensive line of Goodkarma resulted in a counterattack that was smoothly brought under control by E. Hatemi in the centre of the opposition's penalty area, but his finish went high. H. Odden of Goodkarma was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. After 64 minutes, E. Hatemi got through on the right and was very close to equalising for the home side, but didn't get the shot away. With the scoreboard showing that 65 minutes had been played, Lightnings nearly put themselves up another goal after C. Quaid came through on the left. Fortunately for the home crowd, the keeper made the save. Good work by the Goodkarma defensive line after 66 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found F. Nedelka alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. Lightnings had most of the ball, with 56 percent of possession.

Goodkarma's top performer was clearly D. Blănaru. B. Perez García turned in a dismal performance, however. Most important Lightnings player was A. Karikko. B. Fleetwood on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 0 - 1.