The greater motivation of Lausanne, which absolutely had to win the three points in order to hope to enter the title round, got the better of the already qualified Lugano. The Vaudois, who went ahead with two goals in the first half, also galvanized by the news coming from Bern that Zurich had succumbed, defended tooth and nail, the result. The HCLers tried to fight back, they were not even lucky: Zanotti went out in the first half with leg problems, Koutsias hit a crossbar and a couple of other chances were narrowly missed.
TWO LAUSANNE GOALS
Lausanne started strong by pressing the opponent high. The first shot was Vaudese with Diabaté at 7′ but Saipi parried. On the opposite front shortly afterwards it was Bislimi's turn to engage Letica. The goal of the Lausanne advantage came on the half-hour mark with a cross by Giger exploited by Diabaté who in a slide anticipated everyone in the HCL area. Unfortunately, in this action Mattia Zanotti was injured and had to give way to Brault-Guillard. Lugano could have equalized on 33′ but Koutsias' volley on Marques' center hit the crossbar before getting lost on the bottom. Cimignani also had a good chance shortly afterwards but his saucer (on Steffen's service) was turned away by the Vaud goalkeeper. Thus came Lausanne's doubling with a mistake by Marques at the penalty corner and with the ball reaching Poaty who, from 18 yards out, inscribed impartially.
CONTROL AND INACCURACIES
In the second half, Ludovic Magnin's team was more concerned with controlling the all-important result while Lugano tried to push harder but often hunted against the rocky local defense. It also lacked some precision in shooting and decisive passing. The first chance was for Papdopulos who smashed a header to the side off a corner taken by Grgic. Later it was Steffen, served by Koutsias, who failed to hit the mirror while on the rebounded ball Bislimi's shot was blocked by Letica. There were then shots by Grgic and Dos Santos that were deflected or parried.
IN MAY THE TITLE ROUND
Now the league will take a break to allow for the Swiss Cup semifinals. We will meet again in early May for the first of five Championship Group games.
TABLE: Lausanne-Lugano 2-0 (2-0)
RETIREES: 27′ Diabaté, 38′ Poaty
CRIMINALS: Bottani and Marques.
SPECTATORS: 6,246
LUGANO: Saipi, Zanotti (29′ Brault-Guillard), Mai, Papadopulos, Marques, Doumbia (64′ Macek), Grgic (75′ Bottabni), Bislimi, Steffen, Koutsias (75′ Vladi), Cimignani (64′ Dos Santos). Unavailable: Aliseda, Belhadj, Hajdari. Przybylko, Valenzuela.
ARBITRO: Lionel Tschudi.
