Thor's Hammer
Pessina Pessimism
A rampant Thorocozzieq FC destroyed Grilled's open 3-5-2, as Mohd Firdaus bin Yaaob went missing in what was a valuable first-team test for him. The Birds fancied their chances as the hosts had been suppressed by BonGGie in their opening match, but it was a completely different Thorocozzieq that turned up and turned Grilled inside out.
Grilled actually held more possession than the home side as they strove to keep the tempo down, mindful of their strong three-man attack. Their cautious play could not be upheld indefinitely, and Italian wingback William Pessina blindsided the entire Grilled defence, whose attentions were elsewhere, to pass a tasty morsel of a chip past Valdir.
This would not have been as bad had Grilled responded in kind, and
Quah Han Kok appeared to have done most of the work as he ran past two defenders with his exquisite balance. He had a couple of Grilled men to aim at, and went for a clearly excited Firdaus at the far post. The No. 36 looked certain to score only the second league goal of his career, but somehow nodded a simple header high and wide as he timed his jump late.
Grilled were not short of flair, and went at their derby opponents once more. After stroking the ball on the fringes of the penalty area for a minute or so, MacKinnon spotted a slip by a Thorocozzieq player and gambled on a quick pass to the now unimpeded Spirig. Spirig was on the same wavelength and scooped the ball low towards the corner, but there wasn't enough on it and Brehm managed to bat the ball aside.
Pessina then kindly showed the Grilled hopefuls how it was done, as he kept his eyes on Blanco's floating corner kick, and disregarded all distractions when going for the ball. Talib tried to stand his ground, but it was not enough as Pessina made contact square with his forehead and rocketed the ball speedily past Valdir.
If that was hard to take to Valdir, Mohd Zaharul's goal after that was twice as bad. The local forward should never have been given so much time alone especially right after Grilled conceded, but one way or another none of the defenders was by him when a simple pass came though.
The scoreline was hardly an accurate reflection of the proceedings, as Grilled hastened to correct it as soon as possible. They were not short of chances, with
Ciro Penati inches away from reducing in the 34th minute when he accelerated masterfully to leave the defensive line behind. Brehm was on fire, though, and got a touch on the following grounder.
Grilled finally got the goal they deserved when
Quah Han Kok was clipped going past his man, just inside the penalty area. It was a soft penalty to give, but Grilled were not complaining.
Maikel Rotteveel lined up for it against Brehm, and even the awesome Austrian had nothing against Rotteveel's unerring kick.
Thorocozzieq were delightful whenever they moved up in numbers, and were good value for Sam Parmentier's 57th minute goal which came after persistent running by their forwards opened up the Grilled defence.
Zoltán Árva was finding it particularly hard to cope with Antolínez, and had no choice but to pull the striker down and eat a yellow card.
The home side dutifully continued to go forward, and were only slowed after midfield heartbeat Deng Chin De went down clutching his shoulder after a hard clash with MacKinnon. Youngster Othman bin Abu took his place, and after that the only incident of note was Gino Zufferey's ill-advised slide into Penati, which brought a booking.
