Thailand FC Coup
Pakistan Pounding
Grilled's friendly series got no better as they were destroyed for the third match in a row, this time by Pakistan Division Two club, Thailand FC. The rather unlikely name can be explained by the team having a Thai owner, but Grilled's abject performance could not. The players could point to Thailand FC playing their first-team midfield, but perhaps it was more a case of some players not pulling their weight.
Having conceded fifteen goals without reply in their last friendlies,
Lee Jie Siong's cheeky 27th minute goal was a welcome diversion. Dragging the ball expertly, Lee left two defenders for dead before laying it off to bin Yaacob, who dutifully returned it to the midfielder, making the finish a formality.
Grilled may have thought that they could take something from the match after Bao-Tam made a quite superb stop from Gronsdorf's 29th minute free-kick, but ended up two goals down when the whistle blew for half-time. The Thailand FC midfield was just irresistable even as Kek-Tjiang valiantly tried to stem the tide, but the rest of his comrades were out of their depth against the likes of Thailand FC captain Widerstad and Gronsdorf.
Lone Thailand FC forward Jes Lundager cancelled out Jie Siong's goal with a wonderful lob that belied his unwieldy frame, and then Polish leftback Sören-Bent Terra blew past Siu-Cheung to deliver a grounder to make it 2-1. The duo would combine to make it three goals for Thailand FC, as Terra fed Lundager a perfect low pass that the Danish forward stabbed into the net.
Lundager completed his hat-trick in the 59th minute after missing a sitter earlier on, and Folkert Gronsdorf rounded off the scoreline with a brace of his own. It could have been far worse, had Bao-Tam not pulled off some incredible saves to keep the numbers down.
Under-fire youth forward
Mohd Firdaus bin Yaacob brought some cheer to the tiny Grilled travelling contigent with a clever turn-and-shoot routine that caught Polish goalkeeper Darek Surowy off his line, but was a bit unfortunate to see his well-weighted chip float barely wide.
