Gee-Up
Outstanding Öhmo
Grilled Birds had to wait for penalties to outlast Canadian side Mysterious Ponies after the game finished 2-2 after ninety minutes, and if Grilled had to thank any one player it would have been the veteran
Frank Öhmo. Grilled tried out all five of their young midfielders, none of whom were over twenty, and relied on deep defending followed by fast counters by the fresh legs.
Second-generation Canadian forward of Thai descent Sompong Buranachiwit was the first to make a move, but his 11th minute attempt was inches wide. Grilled left the Ponies defenders behind with a swift foray upfield, and the outnumbered Homer Goodwillie expertly downed fellow countryman
Joe Stern to prevent a certain goal. No matter for the Canadian striker, who was more than happy to score on his native land with a curling free-kick that John Cook could do nothing about.
Ponies had the upper hand in the centre though, as Joey Parent and Asher Islam took control. Islam made things even in the 25th when he drove home Artur Dzienisz's clever pass. If Grilled were behind on quality, they were not beaten for grit and the oft-maligned pair of
Antonio Fernández Riviera and
Milen Kolesov made a statement that they were not just waiting for a transfer out in the 36th minute - Riviera had shown plenty of heart as he made the most out of his starting place, and took over the right flank as Ponies played only one winger.
His many crosses never reached heavily marked target man
Joe Stern, but one of them played to the far post went to
Milen Kolesov who had cut in from the side. Kolesov hit the post on his first shot, but the ball went back to him and he beat Cook comprehensively with the second. Ponies were put out of their stride and spent the rest of the half seeking a quick answer with long balls to their three strikers, but the Grilled rearguard had seen too many matches to fall to such tactics.
Grilled sat deep and nearly made it three with a fast counterattack in the 50th minute, but Rottman played the final ball just a bit too hard and Stern could not catch it. Ponies got the deserved equaliser three minutes later, as French centreforward Antoine Kaplan switched with Helbok to confuse his marker and made space for a terrific shot. Grilled then concentrated on keeping Ponies out with ten men behind the ball, and the negative tactics led to wingback Nigel Bradley hacking Paullin down in frustration towards the end of the game. Sompong Buranachiwit should have ended the game as he was left with only Öhmo to beat just before the final whistle, but a spectacular double block by the 33 year-old Swede put the game into extra-time.
The best chances of the extra time period came early, as Joey Parent scraped the post in the 97th minute as the Grilled defence was pulled apart and
Frank Öhmo denied Kaplan a match-winning second when he cut out Luca Helbok's pinpoint pass from a 101st minute free-kick. The game then went into penalties, and Öhmo remained the hero as he blocked Helbok's and Turnbull's shots, then scored his own against Cook before saving from Bradley. Ponies' keeper John Cook stepped up for his turn against Öhmo, but his quick kick was badly placed and Thai defender
Nui Pakpao hammered the last penalty home for Grilled to end up winners.
