A Dutch Revisit
The Birds ended up 122nd of 5166 clubs in the Trophy of Legends, in line with their finishes in recent seasons. This was off the back of two wins on the final day, that began with a rematch against Groningen II.4 side I.G.V. Arth - whom Grilled had recently bested 6-2 in a World Battle contest. It would not get better for them - especially after they fielded just nine men - as
Chad Thach grabbed a hat-trick, with
Chia Kwang Tse and
Houssam Belhocine adding two each. Transfer-listed Turkish Number Ten Muhammet Tevfik Gezgin impressed by scoring his own brace despite all that, though.
With Grilled Birds out of range of the last sixty-four before the final round, the game against Norwegian IV.3 champs Largo United would only offer an opportunity to benchmark their approach to a committed counterattacking strategy. The Birds passed this test with flying colours, with Thach adding another two in a 3-0 shutout.
Houssam Belhocine also swung a 75th minute free-kick past Tomasz Dąbek in goal, having ballooned a penalty kick earlier.
Hisham Zubari congratulated
Chad Thach on his exceptional form. "He reminded us of how he captured another league Golden Boot today. Let's hope this carries over into the new season!"
Farmer Bunnies won one and lost one to finish 843rd of 1156 teams with only three wins from eight, starting with a 1-0 against Romanian VI.540 winners F.C. TECUCI 1978. It was looking like a bore draw against the former Trofeul Speranţa Liga VII holders, after the first 78 minutes had seen only a missed
Arturo Rosano free-kick from the head of the box.
Amaya Ravula broke through on the right side then, however, and supplied
Ong Li Jing with an assist against Dave MacPartland.
Spanish VII.7 promotees DeporBrion then gave the Buns plenty to think about with a flurry of textbook counters in the first half, which had them three up by the 39th minute with Joan Mocholí firing his team up at centre forward. The Buns found no way back in the second half, and required
Prakash Bhujbal to get over and prevent Jorge Hereza from having a clear sight on goal in the 59th.
Goalkeeper
AES Anchan felt that the defence needed to regain its former glories. "Not to put the guys down, but they can do better."
Grilled International had a good third day in scoring nine without reply, which had them wind up 789th of 2166 participants on 4-1-3 record. Hungarian IV.49 club wow villám se had endured a tough league season, but
Mikhail Romashov was not prepared to tone it down, and knocked in four goals - if two from the spot - whilst picking up a couple of assists as well.
Okehampton had swept H.I. V.203 with a perfect fourteen wins in contrast, but International managed victory against them too, with
Phua Li Kong lifting it over English custodian Paul Shrimpton in the fourteenth minute. 18 year-old
Nurul Aleshahnezan bin Adib then got past the similarly-aged Albert Tran after 56 minutes, with Tran otherwise having mostly matched International's forwards for pace.
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh was satisfied by his players' output. "The Supporter Week Trophy will allow for more tuning, but they look good to go."
