Within Reach
An excellent second day in the Supporter Week Trophy saw the Birds in 457th place, and conceivably with a shot at reaching the playoffs.
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud melded himself into the starting lineup without a hitch, as he was fielded between
Chan Ze Han and
Moey Xin Seng in attack. The great service had him start out with a brace against Danish fifth division opponents Odsherred utd, with
Chu Xin Lee and then Chan procuring the remaining goals in a clear 4-0 win. Kenn Clemmensen would be sent off for barging
Teo Chuan Yong over from behind, but they were three behind by then.
The closest match of the three would be next, as newly-promoted Polish Division Five club Olbrzym P-ń put up a terrific fight, and nearly clawed back a three-goal deficit after a ferocious late rally. Their full-on press hadn't prevented Chan, Lunde and then Moey from putting it past Nigerian goalkeeper Alhaji Osilama, but Kazimierz Solecki electrified their attack as a 60th minute sub, taking just eleven minutes to chip Salmiņš despite
Douglas Carapaica's attentions. Jacek Trzeszkowski then made the final seventeen minutes very interesting as
Bilal Mohammad Harun misplaced a routine pass, but Grilled thankfully made no further mistakes.
It was back to another clean sheet at Swedish H.I. III.15 side Björkris BK, as
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud made a return to scoring with a splendid first touch in the 52nd minute, that killed Chu's pass dead and left Luis Fernando Ulloa absolutely helpless. "What can I say, Hadi's clearly something special." an approving Moey commented afterwards. "It's like he's been here forever!"
Farmer Bunnies improved too, claiming two 2-0 wins and a nil-all draw, with
Gilberto Sorondo making a very good first impression in goal. Omani third divisioners FC Nottajoki did not want for shots on target, but a couple of good early stops against Peruvian youngster Juan Carlos Mariátegui seemed to shake their conviction somewhat.
Vitaliy Efendiev and
Mushtag Al-Nameeri had no such issues at the other end, as they secured a two-goal lead within half an hour.
Sorondo would have rather less to do in the next games, with Ivory Coast III.13 champions Eymen CACA dedi having Ibrahim Sangaré spurn their best chance, by putting it inches wide in the 33rd minute.
Xue Kangfang had just slotted it home from a counter before that, and
Nguyễn Văn Chương sidled in from the left to make doubly sure, in the 77th minute. Guam VIKINGS of the Guam third division would then line up in a 5-3-2 too, and although the Buns crafted a few counters, none came particularly close.
Current Buns Player of the Season
Richard Agyei appreciated Sorondo's presence behind him. "He's not afraid of making himself heard - which is very helpful really."
Grilled International would suffer their first loss of the tournament against German V.241 oldies PSV 1846 Mannheim in the fifth round, with
Tibor Atzenhain finding their only goal in a 1-3 defeat. Mannheim's disciplined 4-4-2 was otherwise too much for International to break; if big English centreback Tommy Balderstone wasn't at hand, they could count on French custodian Régis Martigny to clean up.
International wouldn't let it get to them, as they squeezed out a 3-2 result versus Finnish Division Five club Uimaharju C.F. next. Uimaharju might have been on a twelve-game win streak in competitive games, but this didn't keep a rampant International attack from ripping them apart in the first half-hour.
Safari bin Hj Jali,
Ragib Banović and
Osertz Indurain had scored by then, and although the Finns chased two back late on through Samu Seppä and Antti Murtojärvi, some desperate defending in numbers kept them away for long enough.
There would be very little such defending on either side in the day's finale with 18 InfernoBS 93, as the Swiss V.174 outfit were outshot in a fourteen-goal affair. 8-6 was the final scoreline, and the most ludicrous would-be fact was that no hat-trick had been achieved... until
Ragib Banović set it right in the first minute of time added on. S$12 million-rated Sami Aura did his valuation justice, with two top-drawer strikes from deep.