Glorious debut for Vasca
Sunday, July 3, 2005
Article summary
Vasca 4-1 Kahovka-Kzeso The ebullient Basques make short work of their opening Ukrainian opponents.
Article body
Vasca made short work of nine-man Ukrainian side Kahovka-Kzeso in their opening UEFA Regions' Cup Group B game, emerging with a 4-1 win in Wolbrom.
Defensive stance
With their opponents beginning in a defensive frame of mind by fielding only one striker, José Antonio Goikoetxea's team showed their class, opening the scoring after 28 minutes. A long-range shot cannoned off the Ukrainian crossbar but Alain Arroyo was in the right place at the right time to head the ball into Kahovka's net.
Lead doubles
A second goal was not long in coming as Vasca doubled their advantage with ten minutes of the first half remaining. A long cross to the far post was played back into the penalty area only for a Ukrainian defender to miscue his clearance into the path of Roberto Correa, who made no mistake with a shot from ten metres.
Quick reward
Kahovka changed their tactics at half-time and were rewarded for a more aggressive approach after 60 minutes. A poor back-pass from a Vasca player was hungrily intercepted by Aleksey Ananichev, who showed his nerve in calmly rounding the goalkeeper and sliding the ball into an empty net.
Sucker punch
Kahovka pressed for an equaliser but were hit with a sucker punch five minutes after they scored their goal as a quick counterattack saw three Vasca players bearing down on the Kahovka goal. Jon Unai Martinez ended up with the ball and he pushed the ball past the goalkeeper to make it 3-1.
Pastrian scores
With eight minutes to go they added a fourth as a long header from inside the Vasca half caught the Kahovka defence napping. With the Ukrainians seemly waiting for the referee's assistant to flag for offside, Iker Pastrian raced through to score.
Red cards
Tempers flared in the closing stages as striker Viktor Bakum was shown a red card in the 90th minute before his team-mate Viacheslav Diachenko followed him to the dressing room a minute later after picking up a second booking. However, that could not take the shine off a fine opening performance from the Spanish representatives.
