Finding One's Level
Grilled signed off with a win, a draw and a loss on the final day of the Supporter Week Trophy, to end with a barely-positive 5-1-4 record for the edition.
It began with a match against German Division Six side KrosseMetalKrabbeVillach, who were seeking to hit the Birds on the break. Perhaps slightly wiser to this tack by now, Grilled remained cautious in an uneventful first half, before the 80th minute arrival of
Kalki Parvathaneni sparked a well-worked strike from
Chu Xin Lee. Sadly,
Cyril Künzler would then pass up a great chance to sew it up, and Portuguese forward Laurentino Lopes Campos came in from the right to equalise.
A 2-1 win against former Slovakian Sapphire Challenger Cup holders Belasá Bratislava was next, with
Neeraj Muthyala and
Gene Filippone making it two-nil by the fourteenth minute. Former Iranian youth international Houtan Ardakani impressed alongside Yiorgos Gounaridis but was unable to score, and it took big centrehalf Marek Jirkovský to pull one back from a corner.
Dutch Division Three club Fc Staalwijk then took the Birds down 5-2 thanks to a late surge, as
Moey Xin Seng and
Chu Xin Lee converted
Florus Romijn's crosses for the Birds' goals. Moey thought it a good exercise. "We got exposed to a wide variety of tactics, which should help us in the real competition to come."
It was two losses and a win for the Farmer Bunnies, who first had no reply to Swiss Division Three Borussia Heimlifeiss' encompassing excellence, tamely conceding 0-2. Churchhill United II, who have collected all four Cameroon national cups, then beat the Buns at their own game with a suffocating pressing game, winning 3-0. It was down to Honduran Division Three side Saphieebomby to be nice, and
Abderahim Bentellis put the Buns ahead on a 38th minute counter, before
Wong Ting Yew got the last goal of the tournament for them.
Grilled International started badly against Cambodian H.I. team Cambodia straths, losing 0-4, but they then restored a lot of pride, thanks to a 2-0 win over Georgian Division Two champions FC Manchester United, with
Yao Erguo and
Hesky Atmanegara scoring, the latter after Walerian Oskierko got sent off. A tight nil-all against Italy's Tonynoob Team followed, with both seemingly unwilling to end on a losing note.