Victories Tempered
Grilled Birds swept all their three fixtures on the second day of the Supporter Week Tournament, if with heightened concerns over the temperaments of
Brian Reddy and
Chad Thach, after both got themselves sent off. There was nothing to be concerned about yet when the Birds faced French IV.47 side FC Margouillat, as
Chia Kwang Tse struck a double in a 6-1 win that saw brief defiance from Margouillat's French Number Nine, Elnathan Grunebaum.
Paulino Trindade stood in for the suspended Reddy on the right, and scored a fine goal in the 74th minute.
Reddy returned by popular demand against Scottish H.A.L V.133 hopefuls Bay Shrimp next, and lasted all of fifty minutes before getting dismissed for helping fullback Billy Fitzmaurice off his feet, after the defender had successfully shepherded the ball out. It was not the proudest day for Grilled's attackers discipline-wise with
Phua Ming Xin and
Orest Tokarz booked too, though
Joe Reece did find a brace with one each for Phua and Thach, in a 4-0 clearout.
It was
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan's turn to fill in on the right for Reddy against Zambian II.4 challengers FC Victoria Falls next, and the Birds looked set for disaster as they found themselves 0-3 down after 27 minutes.
Phua Ming Xin's lob in the 30th would be matched by a great Cesare Bonelli finish six minutes on, before
Lim An Keng cannoned a corner off his head, for 2-4 at half-time.
Phua Ming Xin would really strut his stuff in the second half as he utterly bullied Barbados sweeper James DeWolf for three more, with
Joe Reece finally putting Grilled ahead after 81 minutes. This was all the more impressive given that the Birds were a man down then, after
Chad Thach had been sent off for his second yellow, again entirely avoidable had he just walked away from a questionable call.
Farmer Bunnies got two wins from three, but began with a 0-2 defeat to Belgian IV.53 opponents Vollebak Genk, once more coming up against a team with much the same gameplay, but just better at it. The class of defensive midfielder Mike Treso aside, Genk had truly top-class strikers in Aan Fadilah and Tony Obeid, and it was fitting that the Indonesian-Jordanian pair swiped a goal apiece.
A narrow 2-1 victory over just-relegated English V.210 favourites Crawley Wildcats followed, and this will be a game that
Louis Lee will remember for some time, after he struck both goals towards a Buns victory. Kevin Desmond caused some concern after he turned in a defence-splitting cross by homegrown former English U-20 winger Gil Courtman with seven minutes remaining, but Farmer Bunnies held out.
It was then much the same against Finnish IV.38 club HuPun Pumppu, with
Amirul Jufri Khairil and
Ho Ah Kian scoring within a minute of each other, the latter owning much to
Ong Li Jing's persistent efforts on the right. Dean Elfengrube would convert a penalty three minutes in the second half, after the referee spotted some illegal holding in the box, but Pumppu would not be able to follow up on that.
Grilled International had a very bad Day Two in contrast, as their comedic defending got found out by all their opponents. The closest they got to a positive result was in the first match against Belgian H.A.L V.20 representatives Jimmy & the jumpers, who were mostly overwhelmed in midfield. Star forward Josh Erwich made the difference, however, and after his assist for Renzo Strano's second-minute opener, he would again help to take
Azri bin Sazali out of position for Bert Davids to win it, when
Leri Bezhanishvili seemed to have drawn it five minutes from time.
Seattle V.165 outfit FC Gorgelords then thrashed International 4-0 with a brace from 20 year-old wide man Cody Haines, who well and truly put
Umut Koza in the shade on the day. Finnish VI.81 side Fotonivyo tonked International 6-1 next to close a miserable day for the Brunei club, although Koza did have the consolation of knocking one past Eemeli Kossila in the 51st minute.
