League

Dragonfire Arena
Spectators: 7511 (Terracing: 5634, Seating: 1727, VIP seats: 150) It was fairly windy and cold on the field when Ştefan Bălăiță kicked off to start the match. An unexpectedly hard shot by Ştefan Bălăiță in the 6th minute of play forced Dragonul's goalkeeper Manole Hârlab to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. Manole Hârlab showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Ştefan Bălăiță, who was totally free with the ball in the 9th minute. Emilian Troncotă fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 11th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Paul Ciurea having to interfere. Ernest Axinia received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 14th minute. Paul Ciurea tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. In the 19th minute Ernest Axinia shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Paul Ciurea saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Manole Hârlab didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Florin Jianu went, in the 21st minute, to the upper right corner, 0-1 was the resulting score. In the 27th minute the ball was on its way in behind VfB Stuttgart's goalkeeper Paul Ciurea, but with the help of a sacrificing defense, he could catch the ball at the crossbar. Ştefan Bălăiță received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 30th minute. Manole Hârlab tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. In the 31st minute Ştefan Bălăiță shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Manole Hârlab saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. 35 minutes into the match, Dragonul's goal looked a bit too open when Florin Jianu came free, but Manole Hârlab reached the ball before it rolled over the goal line. VfB Stuttgart's Ştefan Bălăiță got a good chance for a goal in the 40th minute, but he totally mistimed the shot and it went over the crossbar. Manole Hârlab came out of the goal in the 42nd minute to try and stop a shot by VfB Stuttgart's Florin Jianu. But to his dismay, Florin Jianu quickly shot the ball in between his legs and into the goal making it 0-2. The crowd was extremely unhappy with the home team's performance in the first half. They were losing 0-2.

In the 57th minute of the match VfB Stuttgart got a corner. Dragonul's goalie ran out to the linesman to protest the call, but the linesman resolutely pointed his flag at the cornerflag. David Plopeanu ran over to the corner to take the kick. Viorel Simionescu tried in the 57th minute to hit away a contribution but miss-kicked the ball which ended up in his own goal and left an unhappy Manole Hârlab a with quite unnecessary self made goal. Result 0-3. The audience thought a goal was coming when Florin Jianu got free with Manole Hârlab in the 61st minute, but the goalkeeper managed to catch the ball with a huge effort. Paul Ciurea showed his good apprehension of the play when he made a fantastic save on a shot from Ernest Axinia, who was totally free with the ball in the 63rd minute. In the 65th minute, Ernest Axinia made a precise shot to the right of Paul Ciurea. VfB Stuttgart's defense was at fault, and the scoreboard reflected the new score, 1-3. Ernest Axinia received a nice pass in the box and took a hard shot in the 72nd minute. Paul Ciurea tensed up and prepared to dive, but the shot went over the goal with him having to interfere. An unexpected shot in the 74th minute by Florin Jianu got the crowd on their feet, but to their dismay it went out on the left side. If Florin Jianu had kept his shot down it would have been a goal in the 81st minute. The ball went over the crossbar and out instead. After 85 minutes of play, Dragonul's Ernest Axinia made it 2-3 when he simply outclassed the defender marking him and hit a curling shot into the right side of the net. Paul Ciurea was left in no man's land by his defense there! Ştefan Bălăiță struck a weak shot in the 90th minute. Manole Hârlab didn't even have to move as the ball rolled over the line well wide of the goal. A wasted opportunity for VfB Stuttgart. An unexpectedly hard shot by Ştefan Bălăiță in the 92nd minute of play forced Dragonul's goalkeeper Manole Hârlab to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. The away crowd were delighted with the way their team had played and cheered loudly when the final whistle sounded. VfB Stuttgart walked away with the win, even though the match was close until the end.