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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 61 | W | 4 - 3 | Tournament (Playoffs) |
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Peiki Pelt Nine
Yannick Massacre
Grilled found themselves whitewashed 0-9 by Scottish Division Two club Peiki Club Fc in a remarkable affair, as the stars aligned such that it all went perfectly for the Scots, and next to nothing did for the Birds. There was some semblance of a contest going on for the first half-hour, but repeated - and arguably undeserved - setbacks slowly wore Grilled down, and they found themselves blasted apart thereafter.
The Grilled side had identified the highly-technical Yannick Martinet as their main threat before the game, and the man nicknamed "The Genie" took just eight minutes to confirm their worst fears. Floating freely on the right, he met Dutchman Martien Eikema's cross with a wonder volley despite it not meant for him, but none of his teammates could have much cause to complain, seeing as to how it left
Valentin Batâr totally no chance, sailing into the near top corner as if bewitched.
One thing followed another, and Grilled were further behind barely two minutes later, with homegrown midfielder Logan Duke getting a fortunate deflection off
Hoàng Trung Quá, sending a shot that Batâr originally had covered past him. The Birds were far from beaten just yet, though, and
Cyril Künzler mounted a charge in the 15th minute, leaving leftback Cristian Başa in the dust. Axel Haastrup would hasten to cover, however, and blocked Künzler's cross back onto his own foot and out of bounds.
The goal kick then dropped well for Peiki, and a pass over the top saw Martinet get his second, easy as pie. The pattern of Grilled teasing a comeback, only to get bitten, continued unabated, as Künzler saw his nearly inch-perfect free-kick attempt come back off the underside of the bar. Former Moroccan national goalie Labib Ennahrawi would boot it away in a jiffy, and Başa duly finished the counterattack off with a slick drive.
Martinet then completed his hat-trick within 33 minutes, as referee Merton Jarvis awarded them a penalty after judging
Yuta Nakakita to have stopped a pass with his arm. The decision seemed harsh, as Yuta had his back turned, but Jarvis apparently took into account his arms being spread far from his body.
The Birds had barely had enough time to countenance what was happening, but at this point it was clear that they were out of the tournament. Then again, given Peiki's midfield power, this outcome - if not quite the scoreline - was not entirely unexpected. While it was true that the Bunnies had held them to a draw a fortnight ago, they hadn't faced a Peiki team that seemed to have it all going for them.
Djan Bacelar would carry on with his half-time substitutions anyway, and in
Gene Filippone's case, it was probably needed.
Yuki Irie entered the fray together with
Kalki Parvathaneni, who replaced a mostly ineffective
Islom Davlatov.
Parvathaneni's entrance did shake things up for the better, as Grilled suddenly found themselves with the raw pace they were aching for. Shadowing the wingers' advances diligently, Parvathaneni would give English centrehalf Oscar King the challenge that he had been missing, and he would nearly pull one back after
Chu Xin Lee dug a surprise rabona out of nowhere. His touch was slightly off, sadly, and Ennahrawi watched it roll a foot wide of his far post with relief.
Peiki soon adapted, and after Logan Duke smashed in a sixth from Haastrup's measured cross in the 67th minute, it was back to the Yannick Martinet show. The moustached French maestro was only improving as the game went on, inexplicable as that might sound, and he bamboozled Grilled's entire right defence two minutes later, to slot a grounder past an advancing
Valentin Batâr.
The magic wasn't over by any means, and a personal fifth followed in their very next attack, after targetman Michael MacMahon was bundled over by Yuki at the head of the box. Martinet then demonstrated his dead ball chops, drilling it through Grilled's defensive wall, and although Batâr finally got one over his tormentor with a brilliant one-handed save after that, Martinet would complete a second hat-trick with a redirected header.
