SALĀTI 0 - 2 Litrabols (366388369)

It was an exceptionally sunny day for the crowd of 42955 that came out to The Monkey Cave. Espen Jacobsen was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Peter Pihlin and Bauke Kamerling. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this Madona derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. SALĀTI had chosen a strategic 2-5-3 formation. Lineup: Oskam - Dambrowski, Ragnarsson - Zirn, Ammon, Jula, Verlé, Ollé - Reis, Polyarush, Rizzo.

A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Litrabols. Starters: Parnaíba - Bredesen, da Silva, Brambs - Brun, Derosset, Gjermundsen, Kalinin, Huijdts - Rohatschek, Szöllősi.

Many thought P. Verlé ought to have been awarded a penalty 8 minutes into the game, as he went down trying to dribble around D. Parnaíba after a determined run through the middle. A mistake by the home side's central defence after 32 minutes allowed A. Rohatschek to score for Litrabols. The scoreboard now read 0 - 1. Speedy B. Brun tried one of his patented rushes 37 minutes into the game, but R. Ragnarsson was just as fast and averted the attack. With 39 minutes played, SALĀTI's V. Polyarush found an opening in the visitors' left side defence, but his shot was handled easily by the keeper. Halftime score was 0 - 1. SALĀTI claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 58 percent.

B. Brun increased the visitors' lead by putting a volley away after a pass from the right. 0 - 2. A misunderstanding between the visitors' keeper D. Parnaíba and his left defence could have resulted in a goal for SALĀTI, but C. Rizzo's finish was way too lame. A superb free kick by SALĀTI's L. Dambrowski after 81 minutes looked like it'd reduced the lead after it hit the underside of the bar and bounced down over the line, but to the fury of the home crowd the linesman missed it - no goal! SALĀTI's E. Ollé was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick after 82 minutes. With 83 minutes played, C. Rizzo was very close to reducing the score for SALĀTI with a low drive from the left, but a defender stuck his foot out just in the nick of time, blocking the shot to a corner. 84 minutes in, Litrabols's J. da Silva received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. M. Mina was called on to replace SALĀTI's C. Rizzo after 85 minutes following a nasty collision. Possession in this half belonged to SALĀTI, who controlled the ball 59 percent of the time.

SALĀTI's top performer was clearly V. Polyarush. M. Mina on the other hand, had a terrible day. Most important Litrabols player was A. Rohatschek. However, B. Brun made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 0 - 2.