Spartanna Slaughter
Veskimeister Valiant
It was a second crushing defeat in a row for Grilled's youngsters, but a 7-2 steamrolling by Italian Division Two club Spartanna could at least be considered an improvement after the 10-1 whitewash at home by Reifels Juniors. The attendance was another plus, as a good number - over six thousand - turned up despite the pouring rain.
Grilled played exactly the same side for the friendly, and it began in similarly unpromising fashion. The clock hadn't passed sixty seconds when the hosts won a free-kick and powered it in. Mark Osaj's effort appeared destined for Bao-Tam's arms, but the ball refused to bounce on the slippery pitch, and slid in by the surprised goalie.
Spartanna played an extremely attacking 2-5-3 against all Italian stereotypes, but despite the obvious glaring weaknesses in defence, Grilled were unable to get out of their own half enough to make it count. Omiros Flokos soon tapped in a second after great work by the bull-like Sebastian Mikulowski, who might have taken over the game single-handedly had he not been accidentally brained by a teammate in the 21st minute.
That didn't slow Spartanna as Ove Veskimeister knocked in a third, and it fell to old hand
Lan Tuan-Mu to prevent a one-sided rout, as he made good use of some hard running by
Feng Darong down the right flank to reduce the deficit to 3-1. That was little comfort to the woefully-stranded bin Yaacob, though, who had no joy as lone striker against two very conscientious markers; Veskimeister even had enough energy to break the length of the field to strike again to restore his side's three-goal advantage.
Morgan Panichi increased the lead to 5-1 thanks to a nice dribble by substitute Józef Tyrakowski, who would himself score from another determined run in the 65th minute. In between, Povolo followed Panichi into the referee's book for blocking a quickly-taken free-kick by Yaacob, who seemed fated to have a bad day as his stunning surge past both defenders was halted by some superb goalkeeping from Battistolli on his next attempt.
Giuseppe Povolo nutmegged Bao-Tam for his side's seventh and last goal, and that was how the match appeared to be ending, until
Dani Spirig salvaged some extra pride for Grilled with a sweet effort five minutes from the end.
