Niakcoinle 2 - 0 Pabl8 (394271791)

The crowd of 3352 turning up at Demher Arena today were greeted with some nasty showers of rain. Ruedi Linker was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Jim Mouritsen and Leonardo Biepiewski. Niakcoinle tactics involved an interesting 5-4-1 combination. Lineup: Stillhart - Ţăranu, Lindner, Neiweiler, Hans, Hasler - Honsberger, Lardon, Ardüser, Bančić - Rougemont.

Pabl8 started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. The following players had been chosen: Olmo Sáenz - Gómez, Cochrane, Araújo, Tătărus, Sanmiquel - Egüez, Fernández Luarca, Janson, Stross - Tanielu.

Counter-attacking seemed to be the preferred strategy of Niakcoinle. 1 minutes into the match, the referee signalled for a Pabl8 substitution. B. Hruštiak came on for F. Janson. Niakcoinle's A. Hans had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 23 minutes having been played. G. Huben was the replacement. G. Rougemont was struggling to make the ball dance with his usual trickery and panache, and the opposing players had little trouble shutting him down in these muddy conditions. Niakcoinle took the lead 41 minutes in, as C. Lardon broke through on the left and put the 1 - 0 shot just beyond the reach of the outstretched keeper. N. Hasler increased the lead for Niakcoinle to 2 - 0, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! 2 - 0 was the score after the first half. Possession in this half belonged to Niakcoinle, who controlled the ball 71 percent of the time.

The opposing supporters gave the referee an earful when he only gave E. Egüez from Pabl8 a yellow card after a mistimed challenge from behind 60 minutes into the game. That was far too lenient! Coming from the right, G. Huben almost managed to score another goal for Niakcoinle, but his header was tipped over the bar by the visitors' keeper. Although the whole team were struggling to impress, Pabl8's A. Fernández Luarca was singled out as being the problem as he was called off the pitch after 70 minutes. O. Alegría was given a chance to change things around. O. Alegría became the new Pabl8 captain. With 70 minutes played, the Pabl8 coach decided a substitution may help turn the game around. D. Cogonbrellas came on, C. Tătărus had to leave the fray. It was a bad day for the usually speedy D. Cogonbrellas. The mud seemed to slow him down. With 73 minutes gone, a long pass from the defence of Pabl8 resulted in a counterattack that set D. Cogonbrellas free through the middle, but the keeper made a spectacular diving save. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Niakcoinle, with 65 percent of the ball.

Niakcoinle's top performer was clearly G. Huben. C. Lindner was a disappointment, however. The most dominating Pabl8 player was without a doubt O. Alegría. On the other hand, B. Hruštiak's play was disheartening. The match ends 2 - 0.