Variant Same Treatment
Birds On Roll
Some might have thought it unwise for Grilled to schedule an extra exhibition in Russia against III.5 leaders Variant, given that they are in the thick of their best shot at the S-League title for a long, long while, but it was not a problem for
Eren Serpin at least. "The team's on fire, and it's better to let them burn bright, while it's on."
In any case, Grilled would meet something of their match - for the first half, at least - in the similarly-unbeaten Variant. Titi Emako-Siankam has been touted as one of the best Cameroonian goalkeepers not to have donned national colours, and the same might be said for many of their other starters, notable exceptions being Indian idol Raghavan Nirupam, and Icelandic wide attacker Jón Örvarsson. The Birds for their part allowed
Chan Ze Han to lead from the front, with
Moey Xin Seng settling into a pivot role.
The first shot would be fired by Variant's Kirill Kulikovskiy from deep, and
Manuel Vadalà could probably have done much better, instead of watching it skip in at his far corner. This was no less than the Russians deserved, granted, with Efrem Kremnev and company having absolutely bossed the game in midfield, a tendency that would only begin to turn around after Grilled had conceded.
It would be more balanced after that, and
Bhavya Panigrahi would draw the barest of fingertip touches by Emako-Siankam for his brilliant 26th minute free-kick, which might have helped it onto the upright. The defender would thus have to wait until nearly the end of the half to score, as a penalty would be awarded after
Bernie Egan was judged to have been brought down late, in the process of firing. This caused a long dispute, but Panigrahi would eventually be given leave to place the ball on the spot, and he would pointedly shoot to the same side of goal once more.
Heng Dong Chu and
Vikram Mudaliar made way in a Grilled half-time double-substitution, with
Kalle ter Berg and
Kalki Parvathaneni being able replacements. Still, it would be a pretty dull restart of the game, as the Birds appeared to lose their rhythm for a bit. Thankfully, Variant couldn't capitalize either, as their early exertions would begin to show.
In the end, it took the hosts' impatience to break the deadlock; they were admirably clearly dissatisfied with a possible draw, and demonstrated much commitment in setting Luís Fernando Castro Lima up, for an attempt in the 73rd minute. Sadly for them, the defender's position had been left empty as Vadalà cleared his lines, and an unselfish transfer by
Bernie Egan left
Cyril Künzler with an easy putback.
That all but crushed Variant's spirit, and Grilled would find additional goals through Panigrahi and Egan, before the game was out.
Salah Kamel's entry with ten minutes remaining would further consolidate their lead, as the Palestine midfielder busied himself with shielding the backline.
