Juffair Jumped
Firdaus Flabbergasted
A decidedly one-sided outing ended ten-nil in favour of the Birds, as four season-old Bahrain Division Two club SV Juffair Manama simply had no answer to Grilled's assets. The result was never in doubt after the opening exchanges, even as Grilled played only three nominal first-teamers, with Talib still stuck in a rut of poor form.
Juffair tried their best in a sensible 4-4-2, but there was simply too much of a gap to catch up, and they soon began to found themselves forced back into their own half perpetually.
Lim Chuan Jing should have been quicker to capitalize when Haddad Ali played a blind backpass to his goalie, but some indecision allowed Valeriu Iatan to come out and force the effort wide.
The resulting corner was cleared at the near post, only to come back immediately with a mammoth header by Tuan-Mu. Mirchev exhibited a dainty first touch to take it down when most expected him to head it on, and some tight dribbling later Hjortlind was in the perfect position to put Grilled one up, and he did.
Hjortlind doubled the lead with a tremendous effort on the run from over thirty metres that even had the home supporters on their feet. From then on the action all went one way only, with van Liere, Jie Siong and Firdaus deservingly padding Grilled's lead before half-time, even as the home side managed to get on the official match report as striker Alam Shareef felled Talib in a valiant attempt to press for a consolation.
The second half began with a bang as
Ivaylo Mirchev curled a sixth in straight from the restart, while
Peter Fjällbratt followed Shareef into the referee's book as he jostled rather too physically for the ball.
The game quietened somewhat as Grilled appeared to lose interest in racking up a totally lopsided total, as Firdaus more or less had to go it on his own to knock in Grilled's seventh. The Singaporean would not be denied his hat-trick, and eventually his raw desire brought him the support of his teammates, in particular van Liere who manufactured a golden chance on a platter which Firdaus greedily gobbled up.
Peter Fjällbratt added No. 9 in the 87th minute as the tired Juffair defence finally gave up the ghost, while defender
Nor Suhaimi bin Che Lah made it double digits with a rare drilled goal in stoppage time.
