Podgorica Pummeled
Heng Finds Wings
Montenegro 1. CFL side Sporting Club Podgorica might be coping decently in their second season in the top flight, but their modified 3-5-2 system would be found badly wanting against a more-compact Grilled setup. Some of this might be laid at the feet of Swiss veteran Dejan Bolte, and a more commanding personality might yet have salvaged more from the game. Then again, it was not as if the Birds were just shading this one, as the hefty final scoreline told.
Podgorica's main strengths would lie in their left wing, which had Northern Irish international Frank Appleby backed up by homegrown national team prospect Petko Jovanović; Aristotelis Pallis's preferred arrangement of having his wingers rotate freely with the same-sided midfielder and fullback had turned out to be difficult to execute to its full potential, though, with Dejan Mugoša - for whom the system was apparently designed around - the only one to seem truly comfortable with it. Against this, Grilled would array
Chan Ze Han, Vikram Mudalir and
Bernie Egan in attack, with
Teo Chuan Yong tasked to shore up against Podgorica's strong side, leaving
Heng Dong Chu to attack on the other flank.
This strategy went quite well indeed, as the Birds made to give their opponents as little opportunity to settle into their routine as possible. Teo would get stuck into Appleby to great effectiveness, and with Podgorica's wings clipped, so to speak, Grilled were free to express themselves in and around their penalty area.
Vikram Mudaliar went down slightly easily after getting bumped by Dalibor Čukanović in the 13th minute, but the foul was given, and
Bhavya Panigrahi sent Radboud Bergkamp the wrong way from the spot.
That didn't endear Mudaliar to the Podgorica fans - or to be honest, the neutrals either - but he was never one to concern himself overly with the gallery's opinions. Grilled would carry on cranking out chances, with
Chan Ze Han breaking free on the left in the 24th, only to slam it into the side-netting. Podgorica had their best opportunity of the half two minutes later as Mugoša slid it through Grilled's entire defence brilliantly, but Dejan Bolte simply couldn't get on the end of it.
The next goal would come from
Bernie Egan in the 31st minute, as
Heng Dong Chu worked his magic down the left, and the previously-underperforming wing star appears to have fully rediscovered his mojo; Podgorica captain Dimitrije Repčić would never look entirely comfortable against him, especially when on the retreat, and Heng would make full use of his ability to dribble at nearly full pace, to sprint past for the finish after 37 minutes.
Kalle ter Berg would be booked for an untidy and ultimately unnecessary challenge, as he tried to win the ball back from the restart. The second half would resume with Grilled in a much tamer mood, and it would take Podgorica putting out an invitation by themselves, for the scoring to resume. Mišo Đorđević was caught looking the other way as
Moey Xin Seng approached from his blind side, and his reflex backpass would be seized upon by Moey for 4-0.
That would also be Moey's final touch of the ball, as he left together with
Mateja Jeftić in a double substitution, for
Chu Xin Lee and
Gilbert Webb. Kalle got the blood back pumping with a wild drive at Bergkamp after 74 minutes, and although it would swerve wide, it stayed in long enough for
Vikram Mudaliar to beat Jovanović in a goalline duel. Kalle tried to repeat the assist in the 79th minute only for Mudaliar to shoot wide, and the Dutchman would be the next one out, as he was replaced by
Salah Kamel.
The final ten minutes saw an escalation, with
Bhavya Panigrahi following Kalle into the referee's book for a foul on former Azerbaijani international forward Azər Məşədiyev, and while nothing came of Mugoša's free-kick, Məşədiyev would make it up by himself from a superb diving header, coming hot on the heels of a big Bergkamp save off
Chan Ze Han at the other end. Chan was not one to leave unfinished business himself, and he answered for a 6-1 ending.
