Hattrick - IV.17 - Ersan 1 : 0 Barlotti

Saturday, October 25, 2008 15:54:26

Clear skies welcomed the 43803 spectators who had made their way to www.ersano.com. Fans of both teams had been eagerly awaiting this Sarajevo derby and were doing their best to outshout their opponents. A 3-4-3 alignment was the formation of choice for Ersan. They fielded: Jacq - Darch, Gunchev, Dawkins - Mekišius, Radinović, Shepherd, Quesada - Bilić, Jauković, Vargas.
A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Barlotti. They fielded: Coudert - Delgado, Lamb, van Coevorden, Ancona - Sá da Bandeira, Verić, Paulista, Veldhuis - Obojski, Donev.

Today, Barlotti's strategy involved concentrating on the flanks for their attacks. The visitors' central defence should have had no trouble clearing the pass to Sadik Bilić, but the Ersan player managed to shrug them off and fired a low shot past the keeper to give his team the lead. 1 - 0! Against a lesser team, Ersan could very well have succeeded with their smart indirect free kick combination after 20 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. After several obvious shirt pulling incidents, Barlotti's Boris Donev got himself booked. 1 - 0 was the score after the first half. Ersan claimed to be the more dominant force in the game, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 69 percent.

Vedad Jauković should probably have put his team up another goal in the 56:th minute, but some great goalkeeping by Benoît Coudert kept the visitors in the game. Barlotti's Marco Delgado was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent's quick free kick in the 66:th minute. Lazar Gunchev had a fantastic opportunity to put Ersan up another goal in the 67:th minute, but he fired just over the crossbar. There was concern in the stands when, at the 73 minute mark, Barlotti's Miljenko Verić hit the ground hard, but he refused the attention of the trainer and rejoined his teammates on the pitch. Mikey Shepherd could have put Ersan up one more, but he fired into the side netting after breaking free on the left in the 77:th minute. In the 78:th minute of game time, Barlotti's Marco Delgado received his second yellow card and was sent off. After 81 minutes, a couple of quick and successful challenges followed by a shot from just outside the penalty area by Ben Dawkins might have resulted in another goal for Ersan. However, Benoît Coudert made a spectacular save. Ersan held the ball, with a clear 70 percent of possession.

Mikey Shepherd performed admirably for Ersan. Vedad Jauković was a disappointment, however. Barlotti's best player was Brian Lamb. Miljenko Verić turned in a dismal performance, however. The match ends 1 - 0.

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