Spotlight: Round 15

Round 15 was a thrilling round in Division 3 of the RMI with Steaua Needarest - Juventus, Alsancak F.C - PSV Eindhoven, and Ely City FC - FCR Cressex all ending in narrow 3-2 wins. Talk about a baptism of fire, with new RMI managers Albaroo and T0MS both putting in great fights against a couple of top sides in the division.

Division 3: Steaua Needarest 2-3 Juventus
Albaroo made his RMI debut with Steaua Needarest, looking to get them back into the promotion zone with a win over the league leaders. In a game of equal possession, the hosts started out better with Juventus' Li Hiroi picking up a booking in just the 2nd minute. Steaua Needarest captain Lage Eskengren soon followed suit, though, with his own booking in the 6th minute. His Juventus counterpart then picked up an injury in the 8th minute, leaving Juve with a weakened back four. The absence of the captain showed as, just 4 minutes later, Fabrizio Gualtieri carved open the Juve defence with an inch-perfect cross for Milivoje Berber to head in. The league leaders took their time to get back into the game, but did it in dominant style, Bahador Aprea levelling the scores with a 36th-minute long range shot before Li Hiroi scored in the 39th and, right after the restart, in the 46th minutes to give his side a 3-1 lead with two beautiful headers. Seth Eaves managed to reduce the deficit for the hosts 6 minutes later through his own header in the 52nd minute. With lots of time to push forward for the equaliser, the hosts threw everything into their attack, but could not do much in the final third with just a single striker after Lois Farrington got himself sent off in the 63rd minute. Juve were content to sit back and draw possession back to a level plane, and ultimately, went home with all three points.

Division 3: Alsancak F.C 3-2 PSV Eindhoven
This game took a little more time to get started, the first goal only coming in the 23rd minute when PSV Eindhoven's Claudio Collauto cracked a beautiful freekick past Leopold Frost. The hosts were cool and determined, though, and in 10 minutes found themselves level when Gabriel Agbonlahor found Gabriel Baldwin in the box. The defender isn't well known for his goals, but even he couldn't miss the target from that sort of position. The hosts suffered a minor setback just before halftime as captain Mark Noble was taken off injured and replaced by Lee Cattermole. However, things turned around quickly as Cattermole turned out to be the one who would earn his side the lead, his 48th-minute shot from just inside the penalty area beating Loki Weston in the PSV goal. Andrew Taylor could have made it 3-1 had he converted a 52nd-minute penalty, but he missed it, and PSV managed to draw level on the hour mark as Collauto headed in a Drasko Mrdjic cross. With time running out, Howie Colby was again instrumental in securing an Alsancak win, this time turning provider as his cross was headed in by Agbonlahor in the 86th minute. Alsancak F.C move up to second after that result.

Division 3: Ely City FC 2-3 FCR Cressex
In the final match to be covered in this round, T0MS was unlucky to have been handed such a hard task in his first game in charge. Hosting FCR Cressex, the hosts looked to be headed for a decent result when Tomas Master earned them the lead in just the 2nd minute with a beautiful curled effort from a dead ball situation. However, Tomas Tiribocchi levelled the scores with a 24th-minute header before his 40th-minute shot from a similar situation, both his goals coming after corners. Cabbar Saatcioglu then made it 3-1 as he latched on to a through ball from Tomas Tiribocchi and easily found the net in the 82nd minute. Tomas Master would not give up, though, and scored a second goal in the 88th minute to set up a nervous finale, his sheer determination helping him to beat a couple of Cressex defenders in the air to head in an Aaron Lennon cross. However, Ely City were unable to find a late equaliser, and FCR Cressex would go home happy.