drenaï 2 - 4 RLU (370399418)

15538 punters turned up at midkemia, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Ebbe Ipsen was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Veniamin Shashkov and Manuel Contardo. drenaï had chosen a strategic 3-4-3 formation. Starters: Koić - das Neves, Blaison, Quellec - De Maria, Bénier, Robert, Hoyer - Bourgoin, Lastra, D'Onofrio.

RLU started off with a 5-4-1 lineup. They fielded: Şükür - Fabre, Thomas, Renaudeau, Ledoux, Simonet - Angebault, Vieira, Leroy, Leriche - Diot.

drenaï tried to focus their attacks down the middle. RLU saw most attack opportunities on the wings. The home keeper expected a move to the right, but K. Vieira surprised him with a free kick aimed the other way 6 minutes into the match. 0 - 1 for RLU. drenaï put pressure on the visitors' central defence 17 minutes into the game, but T. Bourgoin couldn't find an opening. 18 minutes into the game, drenaï seemed to suffer a certain amount of confusion and they fell to a passable level of organisation. 27 minutes into the match, the visitors put themselves ahead 0 - 2 as G. Leroy finished off an attack from the left with a spectacular scissors kick. RLU's J. Angebault got himself booked for a foul. The player down was D. Quellec. The drenaï bench looked worried for a while, but in the end he managed to get up. drenaï's T. Bourgoin found himself alone on the left side 33 minutes into the match and laid down a perfect shot - right into the arms of the keeper! G. Bénier behaved like an inexperienced youth player after 37 minutes as he gave the ball away to K. Vieira. Lucky for him though, there was no goal. drenaï supporters cheered as good work down the right got the ball to A. Hoyer who reduced the visitors' lead after 38 minutes to 1 - 2. S. Simonet could have put his team up another goal 39 minutes into the game, after a rush down the left, but his closing shot hit the post. drenaï's G. Bénier made a successful breakthrough on the left after 41 minutes and should have levelled the score, but instead he clipped it over the bar. It was 1 - 2 at the break. Possession in this half belonged to drenaï, who controlled the ball 61 percent of the time.

A review of the gameplan helped drenaï get back to a solid organisation when the referee blew his whistle again. An indecisive keeper looked on as a free kick by RLU's K. Vieira put the visitors up 1 - 3 after 48 minutes. Content with how the game was proceeding, the RLU coach let J. Poli replace G. Leroy after 60 minutes. C. Diot left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 60 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. J. Eudes was the replacement. The referee signalled a penalty 62 minutes into the game following an offence which looked like it was outside the box. K. Vieira knocked it home to make the score 1 - 4. That made three goals for K. Vieira and he was marked down for the hat trick. V. Lastra challenged the visitors' central defence eagerly, producing a good chance 67 minutes into the game as he went for a through ball. But, as so many times before, the guests' defensive efforts got the best of it. C. Renaudeau wanted to play on, but the RLU coach had other ideas, and he was replaced 75 minutes into the game by S. Lasserre. R. Thomas was the new captain of RLU - handed the armband by the departing player. drenaï's T. Bourgoin cut towards the middle after 85 minutes, receiving a brilliant pass and slicing through the visiting team's central defence, reducing the lead to 2 - 4. S. Simonet came close to extending the visitors' lead when he found himself completely unmarked in front of the goal after a pass through the middle. He tried to lift the ball over M. Koić but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. It was obvious that team drenaï had instructions to attack in the middle instead of on the wings. drenaï enjoyed most of the ball, as they maintained 63 percent of possession.

Most important drenaï player was V. Lastra. M. Koić turned in a dismal performance, however. RLU's best player was J. Eudes. Ş. Şükür was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 4.