latchmere 0 - 2 Gladenbach (393333645)

3573 spectators had come to Latchmere Green this cloudy day. Seyfi Vasfi was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Eef Blauw and Jędrzej Żyrski. latchmere had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players had been chosen: Herps - Sufredo, Lordi, Badilla - Leach, Theroux, Ogle, Cockayne, Doherty - Guardiola, Likourinos.

Gladenbach tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. Starters: Castro - Polk, Lühr, Klieba - Bentkowski, Renér, Güldene, Cappelletta - Arslan, Dortmunder, Horbach.

latchmere clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. Gladenbach were mostly trying to use their skill at attacking on the flanks. This was a good period for the visitors, with several opportunities to take the lead, particularly when D. Horbach slipped through the defence on the right to come up alone against M. Herps, but the home side's keeper showed his lightning reflexes. After 9 minutes, latchmere surprised their opponents with a breakaway counter attack. The defenders had to resort to a foul to stop it. The free kick that followed was a clever indirect effort that almost succeeded, but the defence read the situation well and the intended recipient was left ruing what might have been. Down the middle came U. Dortmunder, making a fantastic play that nearly had Gladenbach take the lead after 19 minutes, but M. Herps preserved the tie. The referee showed Gladenbach's Y. Lühr the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. latchmere's defence sent a ball soaring up the middle on a beautiful counterattack with 30 minutes gone, but F. Lordi's finish was met by the reaching hands of the keeper. 31 minutes into the game, Gladenbach seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a passable level of organisation. 0 - 0 was the halftime score. Gladenbach claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 58 percent.

The Gladenbach players spent the break getting a rerun of the team's tactical organisation and regained a solid organisation when the game started again. Clever play that showed his experience gave M. Arslan a good chance to score, but the shot hit the crossbar. 59 minutes into the game, U. Dortmunder was a hair's breadth away from giving Gladenbach the lead with a shot from over on the left. A prompt block by M. Herps saved the home team that time. Gladenbach were determined to attack on the wing and their central attempts were constantly abandoned in favour of the wings. 69 minutes of the match played, and a comedy of errors by the home side gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but Y. Lühr, after finding himself dashing down on goal from the left with only the keeper to beat, sliced his shot horribly wide. W. Ogle of latchmere was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. P. Bentkowski of Gladenbach received a yellow card after 82 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. Gladenbach had a good opportunity to attack in the middle, but remembered their instructions to focus on wing attacks instead. After 83 minutes, Gladenbach put themselves up 0 - 1, as V. Klieba finished off a strike from the left with a real cannonball of a shot. Players in Gladenbach heard their coach's words ringing in their ears and steered their central attacks to the wings instead. Some fine movement on the left led to a Gladenbach goal after 88 minutes, making it 0 - 2. M. Arslan was noted down as the scorer. The players of Gladenbach now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. Gladenbach enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 59 percent of possession.

latchmere's best player was W. Ogle. J. Guardiola was a disappointment, however. V. Klieba performed admirably for Gladenbach. However, H. Castro made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 0 - 2.