Karnières 2 - 0 Monumental (393473401)

The crowd of 3654 turning up at fc Karnières Arena today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Siem Kools was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Håkan Kronell and André Antão. Karnières tactics involved an interesting 3-5-2 combination. The following players had been chosen: Slęzak - Bekkema, Verspeeten, Wobmann - Tešić, Nesselrode, Morelli, Verdeyen, Riyani - Painhaupt, Serneels.

Monumental decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. The following players took the field: Sătmărean - Palud, Garcete, Bacigalupi, Kalonis - Blackwell, Caussin, Saggese, Gaiser - Zittergrün, van Luxemburg.

T. Verdeyen was uncomfortable with the soggy pitch as he couldn't move the ball around with his usual grace. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave S. Nesselrode from Karnières a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 29 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, K. Gaiser got himself booked. The manager of Monumental was not happy. After 34 minutes a well-practised indirect free kick routine by Karnières was easily anticipated by the defenders. The players forward were so well marked, they were left with few viable options. This was a good period for the visitors, with several opportunities to take the lead, particularly when K. Zittergrün slipped through the defence on the right to come up alone against P. Slęzak, but the home side's keeper showed his lightning reflexes. 0 - 0 was the halftime score. Karnières claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 62 percent.

After 47 minutes, the Monumental coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving D. Kalonis off the field. M. Aunli took his place. Karnières took the lead 52 minutes into the game by 1 - 0, as A. Riyani elegantly received a long range pass through the middle, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. With 56 minutes played, T. Verspeeten could have brought this one home for Karnières as he charged up on the left, but his hooked ball went just a bit too high. Karnières put themselves up 2 - 0 when T. Verspeeten broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. K. Caussin's lack of experience almost gave Karnières a goal after 70 minutes, but the shot went right into the keeper's arms. J. Serneels had a fantastic opportunity to put Karnières up another goal 77 minutes into the match, but he fired just over the crossbar. Karnières enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 63 percent of possession.

Most important Karnières player was J. Serneels. A. Riyani turned in a dismal performance, however. The most dominating Monumental player was without a doubt N. Blackwell. On the other hand, K. Zittergrün's play was disheartening. The match ends 2 - 0.