Hillary 4 - 1 VREN (393252069)

2779 punters turned up at Hornet Stadium, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Jan Faber was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Tito Clarabelli and Ilmari Pirttikoski. Hillary decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. They fielded: Wilnis - Lourenço Vieira, Cobb, Hines, Mihuţă - Romero Leguina, Louis, Holtrust, Rodman - Fulton, Ionascu.

VREN started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Starters: Pagung - Obszański, Kreskas, Polster - Rendez, Dumitra, Vonsild, Gasteyer, Harkusza - Angleitner, Enecotegui.

VREN saw most attack opportunities on the wings. Hillary took the lead 23 minutes into the game by 1 - 0, as B. Fulton elegantly received a long range pass through the middle, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. Hillary's M. Lourenço Vieira was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 26 minutes. A magnificent combination in the middle resulted in Hillary's B. Ionascu increasing the lead to 2 - 0. Hillary's P. Louis saw his fine effort strike the top of the bar following some good work up the middle by his teammates after 28 minutes. 29 minutes into the game, Hillary had difficulty finding their positions and their organisation dropped to passable. Hillary's R. Rodman struck his penalty well enough to beat the goalkeeper and extend the home team's lead to 3 - 0 after 31 minutes. By now, the players in Hillary felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. Hillary's H. Holtrust swung in a good chance from the left, but the visitors' defence were able to clear the ball. After 36 minutes of the match, the manager still hoped to turn things around. A. Enecotegui was ordered to assume a different position on the pitch. He took the place of L. Polster, who in turn replaced his team mate. The teams went for the halftime break at 3 - 0. Hillary claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 60 percent.

During the break, Hillary's coach went through the team's tactics yet again, getting them up to solid organisation. With things not going too well on the field, the VREN coach made the decision to swap the positions of R. Rendez and D. Obszański with 46 minutes played. After 46 minutes, VREN switched M. Angleitner with D. Clerx, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. The bench was restless, and with 54 minutes passed VREN's coach gave V. Zorloni the opportunity the player had been hoping for. K. Kreskas reluctantly left the field. With 60 minutes played, the VREN coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. D. Lodares came on, E. Gasteyer had to leave the fray. 64 minutes into the game, Hillary seemed a little tentative in their play as their organization fell to passable. After 65 minutes, the away team failed to deal with a good exchange of passes on the right, and M. Romero Leguina gave the Hillary supporters even more to cheer about when he increased the lead to 4 - 0. After 69 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as Hillary found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to inadequate. With 83 minutes of the game having been played, D. Lodares received a blow to the hip in a collision and was unable to continue. VREN, with no available replacements, now faced the prospect of finishing the game with a reduced number of players. 85 minutes in, an amazing pass from the left side resulted in a goal for the visitors, as L. Polster anticipated the through ball and scored, reducing the deficit to 4 - 1. Hillary enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 62 percent of possession.

Hillary's top performer was clearly H. Holtrust. R. Rodman on the other hand, had a terrible day. VREN's best player was L. Polster. However, O. Pagung made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 4 - 1.