Asprey Asphyxiate
Tentative Talib
Grilled's new Pakistan ex-international Nawab Talib made his debut in a friendly against Macedonian Division Two club Asprey, contributing an solid if staid performance in defence that nevertheless was so far ahead of the rest of the players that he garnered Man-of-the-Match honours anyway.
Asprey's Ognen Gichev set the tone for the match with a biting tackle on
Lee Jie Siong, for which he got a yellow card. Lee almost gained revenge for that when he struck Hjortlind's corner against the hosts' goalie, when he had the whole goalmouth at his mercy. It was left to Ødegaard to apply the coup de grace against Ognjen Kapisoda.
Mohd Firdaus was left rueing a bump from Lazo Manev which set him just a little off-balance in the 12th minute, otherwise his delicious lob would surely have dropped in behind Kapisoda. More hard play saw Lagerlind booked, and Hjortlind soon scored Grilled's second with a placed shot from his weaker left foot.
A flying strike saw Mohd Firdaus claim his goal, as Asprey's strikers found no joy against the calm and collected Talib, whose passes out of defence seemed rather conservative, however. The second half saw his first real offensive move, as he cut past an Asprey player before finding Ødegaard waiting wide on the left. Ødegaard held the ball up for some seconds before his forward lob to Jie Siong was finished off with due aplomb by the midfielder.
Karl Östmar endangered Hjortlind's knees with a high challenge that got Asprey their third carding of the day, while Hjortlind and Mohd Firdaus completed their doubles to the dismay of the expectant home support. The home side would get one back from the speedy Andre Ololovski, who raced Bao-Tam to a long punt, and appeared to nudge the ball in with his hand a la Maradona. Grilled were prepared to concede the goal, though, with the result firmly in hand.
