Kickandjam 3 - 1 Kickers (393589333)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 43431 at Beethovenpark-Arena today. Sigi Gombos was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Gernot Tomic and Gregorio Pakozdy. Kickandjam had chosen a strategic 3-5-2 formation. The following players took the field: Fiegert - Nedelescu, Trtílek, Sonik - Ukoh, Arndt, Nöbauer, Simshäuser, Svane - Masula, Radl.

Kickers tactics involved an interesting 3-4-3 combination. Lineup: Gmach - Santisteban, Varta, Zika - Ozeri, Velss, Simons, Mothe - Heerlen, Kraul, Lehtola.

Using their counter-attacking abilities was the strategy of choice for Kickers. Kickandjam were very close to putting themselves one up after 22 minutes as M. Sonik got through on the left, but failing in concentration, he shot the ball wide. Kickandjam had a magnificent opportunity after 30 minutes as H. Ukoh hit the ball hard from the edge of the penalty box. However, the shot went wide. Kickers's A. Zika had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 32 minutes having been played. R. Holland was the replacement. P. Heerlen was in the clear after breaking the offside trap following a Kickers counterattack from the left after 34 minutes. His neat finish made the score 0 - 1. 0 - 1 was the score after the first half. Kickandjam enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 66 percent of possession.

After 46 minutes of the match, the manager still hoped to turn things around. C. Nedelescu was ordered to assume a different position on the pitch. He took the place of E. Trtílek, who in turn replaced his team mate. With 46 minutes played, the Kickandjam coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. T. Nida came on, C. Svane had to leave the fray. After 46 minutes, Kickandjam switched E. Trtílek with Đ. Pavić, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. After 70 minutes of play, R. Masula evened things up for Kickandjam with an impressive goal coming up the middle. 1 - 1. With 78 minutes played, the home side managed to get a 2 - 1 lead as F. Simshäuser flipped the ball in after a cross from the right. Kickandjam's H. Arndt was shown a yellow card after 83 minutes for slicing down an opponent. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Kickandjam scored another to make it 3 - 1 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for M. Radl after 85 minutes. With 86 minutes played, Kickandjam's Đ. Pavić almost extended the lead, but his shot from the left glanced off the top of the bar to fall behind the net. Under heavy pressure after 88 minutes, the inexperienced Kickandjam struggled to maintain their level of play. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Kickandjam, with 65 percent of the ball.

The most dominating Kickandjam player was without a doubt M. Radl. T. Nida on the other hand, had a terrible day. Kickers's best player was J. Kraul. However, R. Holland made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 3 - 1.