Gooners 2 - 1 Spori (393466594)

It was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 4606 that came out to Highbury. Richard Meste was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Silvester Thys and Harald Birnbaum. Gooners had chosen a strategic 2-5-3 formation. They fielded: Katkonas - van den Horn, Manni - Kiukas, Klapa, Vulker, Cannizzaro, Bremond - Nachlinger, Šalomskas, Minyaylo.

Spori started off with a 4-5-1 lineup. Starters: Senjaković - Carnero, Díaz, Vragotur, Vidigal - Norrman, Božić, Fiolić, Soljačić, Faragó - Ratavičius.

Gooners were very close to putting themselves one up after 22 minutes as A. Minyaylo got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. With 28 minutes played, the home side managed to get a 1 - 0 lead as W. van den Horn flipped the ball in after a cross from the right. 33 minutes into the match, the visitors' central line of defence had to look on as A. Cannizzaro broke through, making the score 2 - 0 for Gooners. With 35 minutes played, A. Díaz had a fantastic opportunity to reply but his shot flew harmlessly into the side-netting of the goal. The teams went for the halftime break at 2 - 0. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Spori, with 53 percent of the ball.

Gooners's W. Manni got himself booked for a foul. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Spori's A. Díaz was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 73 minutes. Z. Svetić was given a chance to change things around. The Spori captaincy was handed to M. Ratavičius. After 73 minutes, Spori used a short break in the game to take new instructions from their coach. Morale on the visitors' bench was greatly improved when their V. Soljačić reduced the lead to make it 2 - 1 after 77 minutes, following a pass from the right. As usual, J. Klapa tried to use his strength and hard work for the benefit of the team, but the heat hit him hard and he couldn't keep pace at all. 84 minutes into the game, J. Norrman had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came C. van Gijzel. Spori claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 53 percent.

Gooners's best player was K. Nachlinger. W. Manni turned in a dismal performance, however. Most important Spori player was V. Soljačić. T. Vragotur was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 1.