Poli 2 - 6 Hawks (365370588)

10907 punters turned up at Romulus Buia, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Tijmen Rockx was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Nick Gibbs and Ulf Dyrnes. Poli had chosen a strategic 5-3-2 formation. Lineup: Fruja - Betancourt, Markússon, Penzeş, Vlot, Xin - Costa, Bănăţean, Gherga - Niculcea, Racolţa.

Hawks decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. The following players took the field: Raynor - da Rocha, Maine, Wesselink, Matias - Teslovan, Cierpicki, Irimia, de Gaay Fortmann - Reckließ, Sokolov.

For their match strategy, Poli had decided to use their ability to counter-attack whenever possible. Hawks immediately set off using their skill at pressing their opponents. The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when I. Sokolov was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 4 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! A lack of experience caused H. Maine to make a difficult dribble close to dangerous opponent Ş. Racolţa of Poli, who took the opportunity to score making it 1 - 0. C. Costa's speed was clear to see after 15 minutes, as he darted down the wing and released Ş. Racolţa who placed the ball into the back of the net to make the score 2 - 0. The visitors replied 20 minutes into the game, reducing the home side's lead to 2 - 1, as J. de Gaay Fortmann dashed up the middle, easily lobbing the ball over the home team's keeper. After 25 minutes, the visitors levelled the scores after A. Matias made it through the middle and struck home to make it 2 - 2. The pressing tactics used by Hawks were successful as the ball remained close to the half way line at all times. A penalty was given after 27 minutes, allowing the visitors to gain the lead: 2 - 3. J. de Gaay Fortmann was the scorer. 2 - 3 was the score after the first half. Hawks claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 74 percent.

M. Betancourt rose like a salmon, and was very close to scoring with a header after a corner, but sent the ball just over the bar. 73 minutes in, Hawks's I. Sokolov received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. Ş. Racolţa of Poli had to be helped off the pitch as an injury meant he was unable to finish the game. R. Hidalgo came in to finish the match. Hawks's talent at pressing frustrated the spectators as the game became a dire midfield struggle. O. Reckließ received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 83 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 2 - 4. The Hawks fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. With 87 minutes played, Hawks put themselves up 2 - 5 after an attack from the right, caused by a defensive blunder. The scorer was O. Cierpicki. Confident in their lead, Hawks's players relaxed and focused more on defending the lead than increasing it. 88 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 2 - 6 as O. Reckließ finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Hawks, with 76 percent of the ball.

Most important Poli player was C. Costa. M. Betancourt was a disappointment, however. R. Wesselink performed admirably for Hawks. On the other hand, S. da Rocha's play was disheartening. The match ends 2 - 6.