locomitiv 4 - 2 MAIDEN (394108427)

3961 spectators had come to locomitiv de magraners Arena this cloudy day. Dinu Stãnescu was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Frank Kvarnblom and Halvor Sæbbe. locomitiv decided to use a 5-4-1 set up. Lineup: Amarilla - Kubiak, Mărgărit, Arnalich Fernández, Juárez Yepes, Pallini - Mejías, Gernsheimer, Adam, Real Gómez - Melchor.

MAIDEN tactics involved an interesting 4-4-2 combination. They fielded: Cabanzo - Balanta, Díaz, Couball, Rupala - Castejón, Tulleners, Lunardi, Klougart - Figueroa, Graser.

For their match strategy, locomitiv had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. The wings were the focus of most of MAIDEN's attacks today. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 3 minutes allowed D. Rupala to score for MAIDEN. The scoreboard now read 0 - 1. With 20 minutes played, after a good run down the left, R. Juárez Yepes went down looking for a penalty after a challenge from the visitors' right fullback, but the referee waved play on, and later warned him for diving. After a fatal mistake from the away team's right side defence 25 minutes into the match, an alert D. Mejías bagged the ball for locomitiv, levelling the score to 1 - 1. After a fine move down the middle P. Arnalich Fernández nearly gave the home side a goal after 28 minutes. However the finishing shot went just wide. locomitiv fans held their breath as P. Melchor scampered down the left side. He successfully avoided all challenges and cracked home the shot for 2 - 1! After 36 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by B. Gernsheimer might have resulted in another goal for locomitiv. However, J. Cabanzo made a spectacular save. 2 - 1 was the halftime score. locomitiv claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 63 percent.

Although the whole team were struggling to impress, MAIDEN's N. Klougart was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 55 minutes. S. Wiski was given a chance to change things around. B. Gernsheimer could have increased the lead after 58 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. MAIDEN played a good counterattacking move down the left 60 minutes into the match, with J. Graser finishing well for 2 - 2. A. Couball would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise. S. Castañeda entered the game for MAIDEN as the match clock showed 65 minutes. They were singing the praises of M. Adam 71 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 3 - 2 to locomitiv. After 75 minutes, MAIDEN switched J. Graser with L. Lozada, hoping for a quick impact on the pitch. With 80 minutes played, locomitiv put themselves up 4 - 2 when the visiting defenders lost the ball to P. Melchor, who came up from the left and proceeded to coolly round the keeper and knock the ball home. Possession in this half belonged to locomitiv, who controlled the ball 64 percent of the time.

locomitiv's top performer was clearly B. Gernsheimer. D. Mejías turned in a dismal performance, however. The most dominating MAIDEN player was without a doubt H. Tulleners. On the other hand, J. Cabanzo's play was disheartening. The match ends 4 - 2.