U23 League

Emirates Stadium
Spectators: 206 (Terracing: 155, Seating: 47, VIP seats: 4) The sun was shining, the grass was green and the audience cheered when Fadil Račić got the match started through his kick off. In the 14th minute, Stan Wawrinka left the goalkeeper for dead before tapping the ball into the right side of the net. The Espen Steelers fans were clearly happy with the effort and the scoreboard reflected the new score: 1-0. After a rather tough play, Espen Steelers's Marco Odermatt got a free kick in the 16th minute. Espen Steelers's Nikola Portner played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Bertil Löfgren in the 18th minute of play. Đuro Brezović showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Andy Schmid in the 19th minute of the match. Espen Steelers were awarded a corner in the 20th minute after Gondor FC™'s defender lost control of the ball, allowing it to roll out over the line. Hassan Schürch took the corner. Hassan Schürch made a great header on Espen Steelers's corner, it was just that Gondor FC™'s Đuro Brezović managed to reach the ball for a save. In the 21st match minute, Gondor FC™ was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Baltazar Hercegovac to maneuver through the defense. Đuro Brezović made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Stan Wawrinka in the 26th minute of play. When Bertil Löfgren came up free with the goalie in the 27th minute, the Gondor FC™ fans jumped to their feet. But the shot missed the goal by a fraction of an inch, and the fans sat back down disappointed that Bertil Löfgren couldn't finish the play. Gondor FC™'s Đuro Brezović played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Andy Schmid in the 31st minute of play. Nikola Portner showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Bertil Löfgren, who was totally free with the ball in the 33rd minute. In the 36th minute Safet Nadarević suffered a thigh injury and had to be helped off the field. After 36 minutes, Andy Schmid mouthed his way into the referee's book. The tension between the Espen Steelers and the Gondor FC™ players grew even worse after the yellow card. In the 36th match minute, Espen Steelers was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Andy Schmid to maneuver through the defense. Espen Steelers's Clement Rothstein was substituted for Andy Schmid. After 37 played minutes Espen Steelers got a freekick which was hit by Andy Schmid. Gondor FC™'s Đuro Brezović played magnificently when he managed to stop the ball from hitting the goal, after a sharp shot by Clement Rothstein in the 46th minute of play. Fadil Račić scored 1-1 in the 47th match minute with a shot that went into the goal to the right of Nikola Portner, who was just a little too slow in reacting to the shot. After a very even first half the match was still tied. The players went to their respective dressing rooms to discuss the tactics for the second half.

The wind increased when Clement Rothstein made the kick off in the second half. In the 52nd minute Clement Rothstein shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Đuro Brezović saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Clement Rothstein fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 54th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Đuro Brezović having to interfere. Fadil Račić blasted a shot towards the goal in the 59th minute, but the shot hit the top of the crossbar and went out without Nikola Portner having to make a save. Fadil Račić could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 59th minute of the match, but Nikola Portner made a huge save. In the 62nd match minute, Espen Steelers was awarded a freekick, the ball was picked up by Paul Klee to maneuver through the defense. Gondor FC™'s Hamid Hamedović was substituted for Fadil Račić. Paul Klee kicked well hit freekick during the 63rd minute of the match. When the match had gone on for 73 minutes, Bertil Löfgren took a quick shot and it went in 1-2 without a chance for Nikola Portner to make any attempt to save it. Espen Steelers's Alex Ioneasa was substituted for Samuel Giger. The crowd rose to their feet as Gondor FC™'s Hamid Hamedović slotted home a wonderful shot that went in to the left of Nikola Portner. That made the score 1-3 after 81 minutes of play. Gondor FC™'s Bahtijar Barbarez shoveled away a really nice long shot in the 85th minute of play. The shot was stopped by Nikola Portner but with some difficulty. 86 minutes into the game, Alex Ioneasa was given a yellow card after he appeared to trip an opposing player. Espen Steelers's manager was livid on the sidelines, but the referee was unmoved and gave Gondor FC™ the free kick. After 86 played minutes Espen Steelers got a freekick which was hit by Alex Ioneasa. Đuro Brezović came out of the goal in the 91st minute to try and stop a shot by Espen Steelers's Stan Wawrinka. But to his dismay, Stan Wawrinka quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 2-3. 95 minutes into the match, Hamid Hamedović dribbled the ball past the defender and swiftly kicked the ball to the left of Nikola Portner, 2-4. Chants of Gondor FC™ echoed around the stadium as the match drew to a close. Supporters and players were both delighted with the win, as Espen Steelers had held the ball for most of the match.