Gnashers 2 - 0 McYids (368722469)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 59587 at Felix Memorial Stadium today. Benedikt Sushchev was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Russell Grubb and Rogier Delius. Gnashers decided to use a 3-5-2 set up. They fielded: Maghribi - Gedanke, Zarzalejos, von Humboldt - Gladwin, Pritchard, Cant, Cuciniello, Johnston - Jagsch, Maunu.

McYids tactics involved an interesting 4-5-1 combination. Lineup: Thinggaard - Hinojosa, Gillmeister, Barbosa Costa, Sender - Gesto, Stillavato, Okay, Ginesu, MacLeod - Puliga.

Gnashers mostly ignored the flanks in favour of their ability to attack in the middle. McYids saw most attack opportunities on the wings. Some things can only be learned through experience, and C. Gedanke should take his lesson to heart after nearly gifting McYids a goal with 5 minutes of the match played. With 8 minutes played, the home side managed to get a 1 - 0 lead as H. Maunu flipped the ball in after a cross from the right. After 23 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by H. Maunu might have resulted in another goal for Gnashers. However, M. Thinggaard made a spectacular save. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. H. Maunu squirmed through their central defence after 27 minutes, increasing the lead to 2 - 0. The referee showed McYids's F. Barbosa Costa the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. M. Cant could have increased the lead after 31 minutes, but his shot hit the post after a nice combination in the middle of the park. It was 2 - 0 at the break. Gnashers had most of the ball, with 62 percent of possession.

The Gnashers players could smell victory in the air. C. Gedanke wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for K. Aro after 46 minutes. S. Ginesu had a couple of good opportunities to reply, but the home team's keeper A. Maghribi was simply unbeatable. A. Pritchard should probably have put his team up another goal after 65 minutes, but some great goalkeeping by M. Thinggaard kept the visitors in the game. Gnashers put in a good effort on the right, but A. Jagsch saw his volley fly wide of the mark 74 minutes into the game. Gnashers's L. Gladwin had an excellent opportunity after 78 minutes, shooting after receiving a pass from the right hand side, but he missed the goal by miles! Gnashers claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 62 percent.

H. Maunu performed admirably for Gnashers. On the other hand, K. Aro's play was disheartening. The most dominating McYids player was without a doubt F. Puliga. M. Thinggaard on the other hand, had a terrible day. The match ends 2 - 0.