Omani Omen
Branbilla In
Though there may have been some lingering disappointment at having jetted to Southwest Asia for a friendly instead of participating in the Singapore Cup final, the Grilled players soon put that all behind them as they defeated their Division Two hosts, beechmount, by four goals to two.
Ciro Penati was not in the lineup as he had enjoyed a league start against mist, and in fact was given a short three-day vacation off football, but new signing
Matthias Branbilla featured in Grilled's midfield alongside countryman
Dani Spirig, the nominal captain for the day.
Ulf Hjortlind started as the main striker, and the 34 year-old Swede proved that he was as sharp as ever by arrowing a fifth-minute strike in at the near post, after being fed by Chowdhury. beechmount goalie Fadil Al-Amal, just back after a month-long layoff following a head injury, conceded again in the 17th minute to rightback
Peter Fjällbratt, who seems to have found a new lease of life attacking from deep.
Al-Amal got scattered cheers when he beat out
Sándor Deme's passable free-kick which swerved just in front of him, while
Hang Bao-Tam appeared to be completely beaten by Agustín Ferriol's opportunistic drive which caught him on the wrong side of goal. Thankfully,
Luis Alcántara was perceptive enough to get a foot in front of that to save Hang the blushes.
There were a few more bright moments as Hjortlind struck the upright in the middle of the half, and Chowdhury was a split second too late in moving to snap up a glorious sitter served up on a plate by Firdaus, but Hjortlind finally got a deserved brace when he scrapped his way through two defenders to slide home Grilled's third.
Local youth product Bari Yousef El-Shadi then generated a lot of excitement for the home fans, as he got two goals back for beechmount in quick succession. The first must owe much credit to the teenaged Polish winger Jaroslaw Olenderek, whose lightning-quick sprint gave Fjällbratt no hope of catching him.
Weng Seng-Huat attempted to hit back immediately with a scorcher, but it went narrowly wide and in fact contributed to the second as El-Shadi finished magnificently from the counterattack.
Fjällbratt would have the last say, though, as the home side neglected to cut off his run through the middle straight from the kickoff, and his accurate strike to the bottom right made Grilled's victory safe.
