loire 2 - 1 branks (385934070)

23830 punters turned up at anjou arena, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Kalervo Käri-Zein was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Ferdinand Fraß and Jarno Vihanto. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this Pays-de-la-Loire derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. A 3-5-2 alignment was the formation of choice for loire. The following players had been chosen: Tona - Mouton, Raggam, Canedo - Hebeda, Piaud, Zimmermann, Wensveen, Even - Carlsson, Thorvaldsen.

branks decided to use a 4-4-2 set up. Starters: Piguzov - van der Staay, Méreau, Barth, Rangelov - Berns, Diaz, Čuport, Olenner - Haro, Tokgöz.

branks demonstrated their creative tactics on the field. loire's J. Piaud had to watch the rest of the game from the sidelines, after twisting his ankle with 10 minutes having been played. R. Lara was the replacement. With 22 minutes played M. Wensveen almost put the home team one ahead on a cross coming in from the right, but the shot went just wide. 39 minutes in, the referee awarded loire a penalty. T. Raggam coolly slotted it home for a 1 - 0 lead. loire's R. Lara startled G. Even with an unexpected pass. Unfortunately, the receiver was too stunned by the play to convert the perfect setup into a goal. G. Tokgöz was the first to reach the corner kick, but his header was blocked by the keeper. However, branks's T. Diaz managed to get hold of the rebound and tucked the ball into the empty net. 1 - 1 The referee showed branks's Č. Čuport the yellow card after a particularly nasty challenge. The teams went for the halftime break at 1 - 1. loire claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 57 percent.

Having been awarded a free kick in an awkward position after 65 minutes, loire did not go for a shot but instead fired the ball hard into the 6 yard box. After a brief tussle with his marker, M. Zimmermann was able to power the ball past the keeper to make the score 2 - 1. The coach of loire was happy with the game so far, but still wanted to change the line up. After 66 minutes, A. Pirzada came on for G. Carlsson. loire had most of the ball, with 56 percent of possession.

loire's top performer was clearly K. Thorvaldsen. On the other hand, G. Even's play was disheartening. The most dominating branks player was without a doubt G. Tokgöz. V. Piguzov was a disappointment, however. The match ends 2 - 1.