Magic Minute
Bona Latest Casualty
Grilled's first visit to the populous Hattrick nation of Argentina ended in defeat, as Division Two magic team outscored Grilled's reserves despite being one man down. This was not Grilled's main concern, however, as they lost yet another regular with the in-form
Fabian Bona sidelined for a fortnight in the final ten minutes.
The Birds took the opportunity to practice a 3-4-3, with that seemingly an obvious formation to deploy given their well-stocked strikeforce and depleted midfield. Rotteveel was rested after holding the fort by himself against Chemistry, and Hjortlind given the chance to play alongside Subri and Simon.
Sid started brightly in the blazing sunshine, and his cheeky dribbles against Jan-Karel Drent were appreciated by sections of the appreciative crowd. They retained a competitive spirit, though, and were hardly amused when a series of bad defensive decisions left Hjortlind a free run on goal in the 26th minute; The Swede striker made no mistake against Mikael Ulstrup, slipping the ball through him into the net.
Luck appeared to be going Grilled's way when magic team's Dutch right winger Theunis Heijnen brusquely shoved Talib from behind in an act that was more senseless than malicious. The referee saw no redeeming explanation forthcoming, and had no option but to respond with a red card.
That ironically sparked the hosts into action, and Bao-Tam was at his best in denying Victor Thinggaard twice in the space of two minutes. The first opportunity came when speedy Finn Ismo Tarkkonen turned Bona comprehensively and scuffed his effort to Thinggaard, which Bao-Tam beat away with difficulty, and the second was after Thinggaard retrieved the ball and tried to bend it in at the near post.
Drent had his revenge on Sid in the 36th minute when he robbed the ball off the showboating Polish defender. Unfortunately for Sid, he didn't seem to realise that he was the last man, and when Bao-Tam failed to take the ball off Drent after racing off his line, all that was left was for the Dutchman to walk it into the unguarded net.
The home team kept the lion's share of possession, and Bao-Tam was called upon to block a point-blank shot by Carl-Richard Ochsenhausen minutes into the second half. Grilled's best chance of stealing victory came when Fjällbratt had a one-on-one opportunity against Raymon Back, but he chose to embarrassingly make a meal out of a slight push by the midfielder, and was rightly cautioned for diving.
The home crowd went wild when their team banged three in though their explosive T&T combination of Tarkkonen and Thinggaard, as the Grilled defence was stunned by the sudden change in pace of the match. They appeared to be satisfied with the friendly result, but in the 80th minute Bona was unfortunate to place his knee in the way of Tarkkonen's boot when the latter did a turn-and-shoot, and he ended up having to be carted off, presumably to take a number and wait in line at Grilled's crowded treatment room.
