Rabbits Romped
Egan Enough
Grilled's resumption of World Battle duties had them pitted against Kazakhstani II.2 side Wild Rabbit, who had won back-to-back Premier Liga titles several seasons back. They were evidently rebuilding, though, and recent transfer Marat Zhantazin's thigh strain left Gosse van der Lek with little option but to field former Iraqi international forward Feriad Al-Amiri all by himself in a 4-5-1.
True to their sterling pedigree, the Rabbits were no easy prey, and the Birds would have to work at breaking their defence down. Temporary defensive midfielder Keyghobad Jahan was a clear misfit in this team, as his relatively recent conversion from defence saw him try to occupy the same space as his centrebacks only too often, but there remained precious few gaps for Grilled to work on.
Wild Rabbits' only concession for the first forty minutes would be Aïssa Hotami's booking due to time-wasting, but Grilled would finally create a substantial opening as half-time loomed, as
Bernie Egan forced matters with a powerful surge past Hotami. The strike would be batted away by ex-national veteran Zholdas Dauletov, though
Kalki Parvathaneni dribbled it right back inside, and released
Cyril Künzler for the close-up conversion.
Rabbits were in rare disarray after conceding, and Egan wouldn't let up, upping the score to 2-0 with a sharp incursion through the middle on the Birds' very next possession. The Kazakhs would make their play as the clock ran down, and wingback Mario Battistella thundered a left-footer at
Massoud Dob's goal, as no good passing option presented itself. Dob had perhaps underestimated the strike's ferocity, and was relieved when it swerved off the crossbar.
The restart saw an exchange of similarly-impressive efforts from
Moey Xin Seng and Severino Martins respectively, with the latter likely leaving Danilo Subotić with an open goal had he not retreated prematurely from the corner kick's aftermath. It was up to
Bernie Egan to actually put the ball into the net again in the 64th minute, as his hanging meaningfully beside the Rabbits centrebacks would pay off in short order.
Islom Davlatov's return after a month in the wilderness would be greeted with enthusiasm by the travelling fans, as he replaced Künzler for the final twenty minutes together, with
Neeraj Muthyala on for
Chu Xin Lee. While Moey would make it four almost immediately, it was quickly obvious that Davlatov would have plenty of tuning-up to do.
Vikram Mudaliar would nearly be served on a plate from an indirect free-kick combination, but Benito Bannò saved Rabbits further blushes with his late interception.
