Shrimps 1 - 5 Vegers (392677605)

Overcast weather free of rain made for a crowd turnout of 28355 at The Net today. Gerd Ritter Hänel von Cronenthall was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Maarten Roels and Estevam D'Agueda. Shrimps had chosen a strategic 4-5-1 formation. They fielded: Zandomeneghi - Tsachalis, Peeters, Lahdensalo, Franssen - Boomaarts, Hermansson, Dekker, Salakka, van den Horn - Buche.

Vegers started off with a 3-5-2 lineup. Lineup: Bazhanov - Huel, Knutsson, 达恩 (Daen) - Ruiz, Heuvelmans, Fortuin, Guillevic, Ender - Ennes, Padeira.

Against a lesser team, Vegers could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick routine after 16 minutes. A trio of passes took the ball all the way past the defenders, but by then the intended recipient was already blocked off and the keeper could make a leisurely save. Vegers took the lead 22 minutes into the game, making the score 0 - 1 after some elegant movement down the middle. C. Ennes was the scorer. C. Ennes received a delicate pass through the home side's central defence after 28 minutes, and chipped it past the flailing keeper to score making it 0 - 2. The Vegers fans went wild, whilst the home fans started to think about leaving early. By now, the players in Vegers felt that victory was guaranteed and began to play it safe, focusing on defence and not risking too much going forward. After 33 minutes, Vegers's P. Guillevic burst through the central defence and let loose a cannonball of a shot, scoring for 0 - 3. C. Ennes of Vegers received a yellow card after 34 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. 39 minutes into the match, Shrimps's M. Hermansson collected a ball sent down the right and put it in the back of the net, narrowing the score to 1 - 3. It was 1 - 3 at the break. Vegers claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 52 percent.

C. Ennes was, after 49 minutes, almost able to extend the visitors' lead with a well placed diving header after the ball had looped into the centre, but the home side's keeper L. Zandomeneghi made the save. S. Ender's early cross saw the defenders caught out of position and the alert A. Padeira was able to pounce and roll the ball past the hapless goalkeeper to score for Vegers. 1 - 4. After 64 minutes, an incisive pass through the middle gave L. Fortuin a chance to increase the lead for Vegers, and he did not disappoint. The score was then 1 - 5. With 67 minutes played, P. Guillevic nearly put the visitors another one up as he broke through in the middle and fired from just outside the box, but his shot passed just over the bar. V. Bazhanov left the field with a smile on his face as he was substituted 89 minutes into the game, as his team was in the lead. T. Arminius was the replacement. The Vegers players could smell victory in the air. F. Ruiz wasn't in a hurry to leave the field as he was substituted for V. Jolly after 89 minutes. Neither team were able to dominate possession this half.

V. Dekker performed admirably for Shrimps. K. Franssen on the other hand, had a terrible day. The most dominating Vegers player was without a doubt C. Ennes. However, T. Arminius made a disastrous appearance. The match ends 1 - 5.