Zorko Zorroed
Steady Stern
Zhan Ju-Hau's premier performance against Slovenian Zorko team was outshone only by
Joe Stern's pair of superlative strikes, though the Canadian was wasteful as he could just as easily have finished with four to his name. Zorko's choice of counterattacking was appropriate, but the Light Blue Dragons just could not lift their game high enough and their fans had to make do with a late consolation strike by the muscular Nik Sironic.
The early game was largely inspired, the only notable event being Rottman, seemingly caught between his roles as a defender and midfielder, obstructing Alfred Avgutin when Siu-Chueng had him covered. Dai-Lin, so often the saving grace of Grilled on the right wing, looked lost at left-back but did regain some valuable match-fitness after a dip in form. Magunsson relished his first outing this season by doggedly bringing the ball past Jure Meic, who had no backup on Zorko's left. The ball was then cut back to
Zhan Ju-Hau who needed three attempts to put the ball past Swiss keeper Andreas Beer.
The action then swung over to the other flank, where Dai-Lin kept coming upfield for better or worse. Kolesov deferred to the veteran mostly, and Dai-Lin repaid his faith by assisting Stern in his outrageous bicycle kick goal. Stern, having scored when he should not have, then didn't when he should as he bounced the ball off the top of the Zorko bar with a largely empty goal at his mercy. Grilled probably didn't deserve their next goal as all
Chen Chiew-Yen had to do was to guide the ball straight as Beer collided with Josip Frank as they went for the same ball.
Joe Stern revealed his taste for the spectacular in the second half, as he gave Beer absolutely no chance with a killer free kick which buried itself in the top corner. He might have made it a hat-trick when he let loose a shot from open play from a near impossible position close to the goal line, but should really have felt proud that it even grazed the side post. Jure Meic compounded Zorko's woe when he landed hard after challenging Stern for a header and was unable to continue.
The older tefan Zidar came in and sorted out Zorko's defensive frailities, but Grilled adapted quickly by not venturing as much into the box, trying their legs at a few pot-shots. Defender
Kau Siu-Cheung got lucky with his awkward-looking volley from Magunsson's short pass, but
Au-Yong Siu-Yue only came close with his strike from the semicircle. Grilled were still in search of a sixth when
Joe Stern lost the ball to Zidar in his own penalty area. Zidar showed an unnerving calmness when he nonchalently evaded Stern's recovery attempt and then threw Kolesov off balance before feeding a long ball to Eldad. Just one more pass was required as Sironic got Siu-Cheung out of the way before powering the ball past Huel-sheng with four minutes to the end.
