Hawks 4 - 3 Hull (393214606)

Dark skies made the crowd of 59724 at The Accipiter a little nervous, but the rain held off. Andreas Rotacher was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Zbigniew Choroszucha and Franck Monnin. Hawks started off with a 2-5-3 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Barrios - Ringoot, Ahmad - Shufflebotham, Bilosnić, Valenciaga, Ephraim, Crawley - Fiddaman, Maguire, Daudišs.

Hull tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. The following players took the field: Capero - Milani, Håkansson - Šušnjar, Marcheselli, Siwak, Morinello, Hemptinne - van Oosterhout, Fechenbach, Ghirelli.

1 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a Hawks substitution. J. Sanger came on for A. Ahmad. After 22 minutes, Hull put themselves up 0 - 1, as P. Milani finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. 23 minutes into the match, a typically brave header by R. Fechenbach from J. Hemptinne's cross looped just over the opposing goalkeeper's desperate reach. Goal for Hull, making the score 0 - 2. After 27 minutes, J. Sanger had a good opportunity to reduce the scoreline for Hawks with a chance created through the middle, but wasn't cool enough. The ball went miles over the bar. Hawks's V. Daudišs cut towards the middle after 28 minutes, receiving a brilliant pass and slicing through the visiting team's central defence, reducing the lead to 1 - 2. F. Ephraim of Hawks received a yellow card after 29 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 2. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Hawks, with 54 percent of the ball.

With 46 minutes played, the Hawks coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. T. Lazarou came on, G. Crawley had to leave the fray. After 46 minutes, Hawks switched I. Ringoot with B. Zmudziński, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. After a fatal mistake from the away team's right side defence 50 minutes into the match, an alert J. Shufflebotham bagged the ball for Hawks, levelling the score to 2 - 2. 52 minutes in, Hull's P. Milani received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. With 56 minutes of the game having been played, J. Shufflebotham received a blow to the hip in a collision and was unable to continue. Hawks, with no available replacements, now faced the prospect of finishing the game with a reduced number of players. 2 - 3 was the score with 66 minutes played, after M. Šušnjar cut through the central defence and chipped home a goal for Hull. Hull's G. Marcheselli left the field after 69 minutes because of a nasty blow to the shin. His replacement was K. Toller. Hawks made it 3 - 3 as B. Maguire got a touch to the floated corner kick and flicked the ball to V. Daudišs who whipped a low drive in off the far post. They were singing the praises of I. Valenciaga 74 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 4 - 3 to Hawks. The home side's V. Daudišs came close to extending the lead 78 minutes into the game. His shot came in from the right hand side but C. Capero managed to save it with an unbelievable reaction stop. Hawks enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 58 percent of possession.

The most dominating Hawks player was without a doubt B. Maguire. J. Sanger turned in a dismal performance, however. Hull's best player was M. Ghirelli. However, K. Toller made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 4 - 3.