TON 5 - 5 Ojrove (382908526)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 31278 at TON STADIUM today. Mats Carlsson was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ernest Dusseldorp and Alex Alves. TON decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. Starters: Villa - Ribelles, Noyen, Ortiz Diaz, Ryborg - Ascariz, Raunkjær, Cunvas, Ljubisavljević - Cima, Arqué.

Ojrove tactics involved an interesting 2-5-3 combination. Lineup: Insuela - 安航 (Anhang) , Martel - Gietaria, Terol, Calasanz, Nevin, Wraga - Spitzbergen, Oñate, Morroto.

The home crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief when R. Martel was unable to put the ball in the net after his show of skill down the left 24 minutes into the match. He was seen beating the pitch in frustration at missing such a good chance to give his team the lead! After 29 minutes, G. Morroto sent the corner kick right to M. Oñate who headed it sharply past the keeper. 0 - 1! With a shot curled in from just outside the middle of the penalty area after 30 minutes played, F. Noyen of TON made the score 1 - 1. Ojrove's C. Gietaria managed to lose the defenders as he advanced down the right wing and scored, putting the visitors ahead after 34 minutes. 1 - 2. 41 minutes in, Ojrove's M. Oñate received a yellow card for going into a challenge studs first. The visitors' G. Morroto took advantage of a misunderstanding between the home side's goalie and centre backs 42 minutes into the match. 1 - 3 for Ojrove. After a short break after 42 minutes, Ojrove seemed to change their tactical approach a bit. After 42 minutes, the Ojrove players received new instructions from their manager on how to keep in control of the game. In the lead, Ojrove adjusted their style of play with 42 minutes gone. The crowd gasped as A. Wraga of Ojrove was flattened by an opponent after 43 minutes and had to be carried off. L. Gevers came in off the bench. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 3. Ojrove had most of the ball, with 53 percent of possession.

The home team's supporters got excited again when A. Ascariz broke through the visitors' central defence and caught their keeper off guard, making it 2 - 3. J. Spitzbergen 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 R. Villa but overcooked it and hit the bar instead. Good work by the TON defensive line after 60 minutes produced a good counterattack chance, which cut elegantly down the middle of the pitch and found J. Ortiz Diaz alone in front of the goal, but his shot whistled just wide. TON's F. Noyen was shown a yellow card after 62 minutes for slicing down an opponent. After 63 minutes, R. Cima made a dash down the middle past the away team's defenders to score the goal that made it 3 - 3. With 65 minutes played, the visitors broke through on the right after some poor defending. A. Calasanz put the ball away for 3 - 4. With 68 minutes played, M. Cunvas of TON fell dramatically just outside the penalty area. However, the referee was unimpressed, and booked him for diving. The crowd roared in delight as J. Arqué finished off a spectacular series of passes through the middle to even the score for TON 70 minutes into the match. 4 - 4. The Ojrove free kick 75 minutes into the match seemed wasted, as the shot was both short and off target. But was this actually a plan? The ball landed at the feet of C. Gietaria, who was completely unmarked in the box. That's 4 - 5! A handball in the penalty area gave the home team a penalty 79 minutes into the match, and M. Cunvas was able to score, taking the scoreline to 5 - 5. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Ojrove, with 52 percent of the ball.

Most important TON player was J. Arqué. F. Noyen on the other hand, had a terrible day. Ojrove's top performer was clearly J. Spitzbergen. A. Insuela turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 5 - 5.