g_asparuhov 1 - 0 Notko (393487862)

Weather conditions were fairly good for football, and g_asparuhov Arena saw a crowd turnout of 3713. Javier Blommaert was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Maciej Saletra and Magnus G. Göransson. A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for g_asparuhov. Starters: Stoilov - De Keyser, Dimitrov, Vushev - Mutishev, Visconti, Hoeltzenbein, Evtimov - Taschenberger, Blagoev, Shukov.

Notko tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. They fielded: Francesconi - Aycihan, Forster, Berin, Mackie - Drechsel, Braun, Paś, Ender - Peren, Nocciolini.

g_asparuhov were relying on their ability to counter-attack. After a fine move down the middle T. Evtimov nearly gave the home side a goal after 18 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. g_asparuhov took the lead after 22 minutes as a result of V. Mutishev's peach of a shot from the right hand side of the box - placed beautifully in the top corner. 1 - 0. After 33 minutes, g_asparuhov were awarded a free kick. Rather than shooting straight at goal, the taker went for an indirect variant which seemed to take his team mates a bit by surprise. J. Hoeltzenbein did attempt a finish, but from an awkward position, sending the ball into the away fans. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, T. Evtimov got himself booked. The manager of g_asparuhov was not happy. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 0. g_asparuhov had most of the ball, with 68 percent of possession.

B. Shukov of g_asparuhov received a yellow card after 67 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. C. Taschenberger unleashed a swerving effort from the right that the visitors' keeper did well to tip wide. A counterattack by Notko after 82 minutes could have resulted in a goal, but M. Nocciolini, coming in on the left, couldn't get the shot off. g_asparuhov claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 67 percent.

The most dominating g_asparuhov player was without a doubt D. Visconti. Y. Vushev on the other hand, had a terrible day. Notko's top performer was clearly K. Peren. On the other hand, M. Drechsel's play was disheartening. The match ends 1 - 0.