League

Feliciano Gambarte
Spectators: 10851 (Terracing: 8139, Seating: 2495, VIP seats: 217) It was fairly windy and cold on the field when Scott Bradbury kicked off to start the match. A collision led to Valencia C.F. getting a freekick after 2 minutes play. Adam Harding hit a great ball. Thanks to some nice foot action and superb ball handling Joe Herring in the 6th minute a chance for a shot on goal. With an extended leg and a bit of luck Elia Di Ianni prevented the ball from getting in the gole. In the 8th minute Valencia C.F. were awarded a corner. Guillermo Farré went to the cornerflag to take it. Elia Di Ianni made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Lance Fairfax in the 12th minute of play. In the 15th minute, Joe Herring made a precise shot to the right of Elia Di Ianni. El Expreso's defense was at fault, and the scoreboard reflected the new score, 0-1. Joe Herring blasted a shot towards the goal in the 19th minute, but the shot hit the top of the crossbar and went out without Elia Di Ianni having to make a save. Elia Di Ianni showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Joe Herring in the 19th minute of the match. Jerry Lodge took care of the ball after a well-directed shot from Edu de Sousa, even though the ball almost passed him on his left side. Elia Di Ianni showed brilliant goalkeeper skills when he caught the ball after a hard shot from Joe Herring in the 23rd minute of the match. In the 24th minute, Cosimo Haye de la hit a crossing free kick to the open man running down the field. An unexpectedly hard shot by Ryan Plumber in the 28th minute of play forced El Expreso's goalkeeper Elia Di Ianni to throw himself to the left, to be able to save the ball. 31 minutes in the game Cosimo Haye de la did a throw-in, and the ball was quickly in game thanks to Kalidou Koulibaly. After a defensive mix-up in El Expreso's zone, Joe Herring stole the ball and had only the goalie to beat. Elia Di Ianni came out of the goal and Joe Herring tried to chip the ball over his head. To his dismay, the ball went over the crossbar and out of play. In the 38th minute Edu de Sousa shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Jerry Lodge saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Elia Di Ianni didn't have a chance when a screaming shot from Joe Herring went, in the 40th minute, to the upper right corner, 0-2 was the resulting score. Jerry Lodge made an important save on a dangerous shot by Zhu Quan in the 47th minute. 49 minutes had been played when some careless play by Valencia C.F.'s defense caused the ball to cross the line for a corner. Zhu Quan was slow to take the kick. During this time El Expreso's players had a chance to rest. Luck had favoured the away team in the first, and they walked off with a 0-2 lead.

The wind increased when Joe Herring made the kick off in the second half. El Expreso's Elia Di Ianni proved his good apprehension of play when he, in the 53rd minute of the match, managed to save El Expreso from getting a goal against them. Lance Fairfax could have scored with his fast shot on goal in the 56th minute of the match, but Elia Di Ianni made a huge save. In the 60th minute Zhu Quan shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Jerry Lodge saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Zhu Quan fired away a screaming shot towards the goal in the 64th minute, but the shot went just over the crossbar without Jerry Lodge having to interfere. 67 minutes into the match, Joe Herring notched a goal, 0-3, to the right of El Expreso's Elia Di Ianni. Elia Di Ianni was clearly disgusted with the effort of the defense and let the defenders know about it. Joe Herring received a nice pass, split the defenders, and ran untouched towards the goal. Elia Di Ianni came out and tried to block the shot, but Joe Herring slotted it home off the left post making it 0-4 in the 74th minute. Valencia C.F.'s Ryan Plumber managed, thanks to a brazen rush, stole the ball on a throw-in made by Cosimo Haye de la in the 79 minute of the game. Elia Di Ianni didn't succeed in stopping the ball in the 84th minute, which inside left pole to 0-5. Elia Di Ianni made a wonderful reflex save on a shot from Joe Herring in the 89th minute of play. In the 92nd minute Edu de Sousa shot on, it seemed, an open goal, but Jerry Lodge saw the ball coming and threw himself on it before it passed the goal line. Scott Bradbury struck a weak shot in the 93rd minute. Jerry Lodge didn't even have to move as the ball rolled over the line well wide of the goal. A wasted opportunity for El Expreso. The referee blew the final whistle, and the away crowd roared, having watched Valencia C.F. eke out a victory against a very well matched opponent.