Lightnings 3 - 1 Legia (393840125)

Dark skies made the crowd of 4234 at Scorpio Stadium a little nervous, but the rain held off. Håkan Knutsson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Alberto Schwab and Alexander Collingwood. The match took place on neutral ground. Lightnings tactics involved an interesting 4-3-3 combination. They fielded: Burton - Smagieł, Weigall, Keohane, Watt - Quaid, Csizmazia, Ráth - Coutts, Jumnian, Grainger.

Legia had chosen a strategic 5-4-1 formation. Lineup: Sá Coutinho - Morán, Třešňák, Wątor, Henstra, Pruefer - Gontarczyk, Woźnicki, Podhorodecki, Basso - Cocada.

Lightnings clearly had decided to counter-attack when they could. Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Legia. S. Morán of Legia received a yellow card after 24 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. The cannonball from 35 metres by A. Weigall of Lightnings was an impressive sight, but didn't make it into the net. L. Cocada was in the clear after breaking the offside trap following a Legia counterattack from the left after 39 minutes. His neat finish made the score 0 - 1. With 41 minutes played, O. Gontarczyk of Legia fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. 43 minutes into the game, S. Jumnian had to leave the pitch due to a knee injury. In came V. Bailey. 0 - 1 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Lightnings, with 60 percent of the ball.

A handball in the penalty area gave the home team a penalty 50 minutes into the match, and J. Smagieł was able to score, taking the scoreline to 1 - 1. Lightnings's B. Grainger was shown a yellow card after 60 minutes for slicing down an opponent. Legia's P. Třešňák went down after a savage challenge, but could continue playing after some medical attention. Lightnings took the lead 80 minutes into the game by 2 - 1, as J. Coutts elegantly received a long range pass through the middle, finishing off with a half-volley shot just below the bar. Content with how the game was proceeding, the Lightnings coach let T. Bate replace J. Smagieł after 84 minutes. Legia's K. Podhorodecki refused to leave the field after injuring his achilles tendon after 85 minutes. Z. Csizmazia wanted to play on, but the Lightnings coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 86 minutes into the game by F. van Gijzel. As the captain was no longer on the pitch, F. van Gijzel took over the role of being the Lightnings captain. 86 minutes into the game, Lightnings seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a passable level of organisation. Legia's defence sent a ball soaring up the middle on a beautiful counterattack with 88 minutes gone, but Z. Wątor's finish was met by the reaching hands of the keeper. The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave M. Ráth from Lightnings a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 88 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! After 89 minutes, there was a bit of a mixup on the field as Lightnings found themselves out of position and their organisation level dropped to inadequate. Cheers filled the stadium as J. Coutts broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 3 - 1 to Lightnings. Lightnings enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 60 percent of possession.

The most dominating Lightnings player was without a doubt C. Quaid. However, A. Weigall made a disastrous appearance. Legia's best player was C. Basso. K. Podhorodecki turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 3 - 1.