Diggers Find No Joy
Valentín Consolation
German Division Six side Klondike Diggers brightened up The Cooking Pot with their sunny orange tops, white shorts and yellow socks, but their performance during the friendly wasn't quite so positive as Grilled breezed to a 4-1 win. The field wasn't quite back to top shape as intermittant rain interfered with the groundskeeper's work, as several bare patches testified to.
Grilled felt sure enough of themselves to field almost a complete second XI, with Bona the only first-teamer to start. As it turned out, it was sufficient, and young striker
Mohd Firdaus bin Yaacob raised his stock with a lively solo run cumulating in a clever lobbed goal after just seven minutes.
Firdaus was desperately unlucky with his next effort as it pinged off the top of the crossbar, but by half-time Grilled rested on a very comfortable three-nothing lead thanks to the efforts of Ødegaard and Bona. The visitors' promising teenaged striker Lothar Krupke used his speed to manufacture a duel with Bao-Tam, but his composure gave him away and he ended up firing right at the experienced keeper.
Bukhari Abd Hamid was lucky to stay on the field after he charged down Honoré Meziane from behind, a full second after Meziane had passed the ball. The Swiss lad was a good sport, though, and accepted Bukhari's apology straight off the bat. He was undoubtedly the Diggers' key man on the pitch, and even reminded some in the crowd of a younger van Liere.
A funny moment in the second half saw Swee Pheng try to take a quick free-kick, only to see it thump into the tall Hanns-Georg Lindhaus' head. The referee didn't have much of a sense of humour, sadly, and saw fit to book the incredulous Lindhaus for interfering with the kick.
Firdaus saw yet another perfectly good attempt come off the woodwork, and then scuffed a free-kick from the top of the box that a sympathetic Alcántara leaped over for him to take. The Diggers pulled one back from Àlex Valentín, who simply ran past the struggling Alcántara in the final minutes, only for Hjortlind to restore the winning margin with a flashy volley with both feet in the air a minute later.
