Benfleet 2 - 4 Grilled
Dark skies made the crowd of 66136 at
Woodside Park a little nervous, but the rain held off.
孙 (Sun) 族凯 (Zukai) was the appointed referee with assistance provided by
Giovanni Datenet and
Dumitru Curtuiuş. Lineup:
Dare -
Stengaard,
Lukas,
Hietanen -
Salahuddin,
Raymond,
Dias Reis,
兴天 (Xingtian),
Ţoie -
Lume,
Camilar.
The following players took the field:
Dob -
Webb,
Panigrahi -
Künzler,
Mohammad Harun,
Muthyala,
Xin Seng,
Dong Chu -
Ze Han,
Egan,
Mudaliar.
Benfleet Branch fielded a 3-5-2 lineup. For Grilled Birds, the formation of choice was 2-5-3. Benfleet tried to focus their attacks down the middle, taking advantage of their mythical level with that tactic. Grilled's
Moey Xin Seng got himself booked for a foul. A lovely run by Grilled's
Cyril Künzler left his markers for dead and should have resulted in a goal, but the finish went just wide. Grilled took the lead after 17 minutes making the score 0 - 1.
Heng Dong Chu placed the ball out of reach for the home side's keeper after a fine move, coming in from the left. Given a free kick close to the byline, Benfleet tried a move that loyal fans may recognise from training. A pass to the side pulled the defence out of position which let
Bran Lume slip through on goal. He didn't have to break his stride, and slipped the ball past the keeper to make it 1 - 1, 19 minutes into the game. 24 minutes of the match played, and a comedy of errors by the home side gave the visitors a chance at the lead, but
Cyril Künzler, after finding himself dashing down on goal from the left with only the keeper to beat, sliced his shot horribly wide. Always quick and a menace to his opponents,
Cyril Künzler was very close to getting through after 24 minutes, but he could only put the ball into the keeper's arms. Grilled's
Bernie Egan could have put the guests one up after 28 minutes after chasing a through ball from the right, but
Edward Dare was as fast as a snake, grabbing the ball from under his nose. 1 - 1 was the halftime score. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Grilled, with 59 percent of the ball.
46 minutes into the game, Grilled wanted to bring some new energy to their game.
Heng Dong Chu gave
Kalki Parvathaneni a quick hug as he left the field.
Catarino Dias Reis would have preferred to play on, but his coach decided otherwise.
Ayman Shuhabi entered the game for Benfleet as the match clock showed 61 minutes. 64 minutes in, Benfleet appeared unsure on how to play and their organisation was only inadequate. After 68 minutes, the Benfleet coach wanted to see a new face on the pitch, waving
Gabi Camilar off the field.
Wang Yew Da took his place. Always quick on his feet, Grilled's
Bernie Egan sped down the field after 72 minutes, but his pass to
Cyril Künzler was just a bit too far ahead for him to get a good shot off. Grilled had several good opportunities to take the lead, especially 75 minutes in when
Bilal Mohammad Harun came up alone against
Edward Dare who managed a block. They were singing the praises of
Sergiu Ţoie 80 minutes into the match after his speculative chip from the middle of the penalty box found its way over the visitors' keeper to make the score 2 - 1 to Benfleet. The visitors'
Vikram Mudaliar was alert after a cross coming in from the left, levelling the score at 2 - 2 after 83 minutes. As the 89 minute mark approached, the Grilled coach decided it was time for a substitution.
Chan Ze Han reluctantly made way for
Islom Davlatov on the pitch. As the match nears its end, the referee has deemed it appropriate to add 2 minutes as stoppage time. After 89 minutes, Grilled's
Kalki Parvathaneni made his way through the middle and nonchalantly placed the ball out of the keeper's reach, putting the visitors up 2 - 3. After 89 minutes, a mistake by the home side's left defence allowed
Islom Davlatov to get through. He outclassed the home side's keeper, adding another goal for the visitors. 2 - 4. The match ends 2 - 4. Grilled claimed to have seen most of the ball, and the statistics agreed with them - possession being 63 percent.
Bran Lume performed admirably for Benfleet. On the other hand,
Edward Dare's play was disheartening. Grilled's top performer was clearly
Vikram Mudaliar.
Bhavya Panigrahi was a disappointment, however.