TIRANA 2 - 4 Zernoff (393893307)

Fairly good weather for football had drawn a crowd of 5954 to TIRONAAA. Tom Harsch was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Dan Ingemarsson and Nicola Brasini. TIRANA had chosen a strategic 5-4-1 formation. The following players had been chosen: Hjortskog - Kokdhima, Hajdari, Zenuni, Piccinni, Tartari - Oleśkiewicz, Papadis, Heta, Sina - Polloshka.

Zernoff started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. They fielded: Boonen - Iachetti, van Anraad, Câmpean - Berger, Evtushenko, Cabezas, Braunsdorf, Iancu - van Weeren, Sonnemans.

Zernoff immediately set off using their skill at pressing their opponents. A well placed corner kick from J. Cabezas was followed by F. van Anraad's hard but accurate header. The well executed routine resulted in a goal for Zernoff, the score now 0 - 1. After 21 minutes, Zernoff's K. Sonnemans swiftly ran past P. Zenuni and nutmegged the keeper! 0 - 2. The home team's supporters got excited again when A. Polloshka broke through the visitors' central defence and caught their keeper off guard, making it 1 - 2. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 2. Possession in this half belonged to Zernoff, who controlled the ball 71 percent of the time.

After 46 minutes, Zernoff sent a free kick in high over the penalty box. In what looked like a well-rehearsed move, the ball was headed backwards and reached C. van Weeren, who had plenty of space to place a well aimed shot - 1 - 3. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, F. Iachetti got himself booked. The manager of Zernoff was not happy. 63 minutes into the game, Zernoff were awarded a penalty and J. Cabezas was able to increase the visitors' lead to 1 - 4 rolling the ball in by the right post. By now, the players in Zernoff felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. TIRANA supporters cheered as good work down the right got the ball to Y. Papadis who reduced the visitors' lead after 67 minutes to 2 - 4. After the ball was lifted in from the left, C. van Weeren was on his own in the home side's penalty area and should have scored after 74 minutes, but missed, probably due to lack of concentration. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Zernoff, with 70 percent of the ball.

N. Hjortskog performed admirably for TIRANA. On the other hand, B. Kokdhima's play was disheartening. Most important Zernoff player was J. Cabezas. However, E. Iancu made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 2 - 4.