Cyclic Redundancy
Bizzare Mauro
Grilled saved their season with an empathic 3-1 win over Division Three hopefuls Cyco C.F., who had put together a strong case for promotion with four good seasons in III.5. The Birds were however well prepared for the challenge, and despite Cyco's obvious intentions to grind them down, managed to impose their will on the proceedings.
The rainy weather played into the visitors' hands, but Grilled retained their edge and spared themselves a lot of heartache with an early goal. Cyco boasted a solid midfield, in contrast to their defensive unit which left much to be desired. Nobody picked up Rotteveel after he latched on to a purposeful lob by Spirig, and a half-hearted lunge by Fernán Tomé didn't throw the experienced Dutchman off his lethal shot.
Attention soon shifted to the other end of the pitch, where Swiss striker Mauro Bizzarri got into a tangle with Grilled captain
Han Lik-Tsun, and refused to leave him alone. A perplexed Han tried his best to keep his distance, but Bizzarri continued to get in his face even as countryman Spirig tried to smooth the matter over. The referee finally got involved, and ended the commotion with a yellow card.
Subri then put Grilled two up with a predatory sprint into the box onto Rotteveel's cutback, but Bizzarri wasn't relinquishing the spotlight. The striker looked confused as he tried to harry Grilled from the kick-off, and wound up throwing himself into a very ugly tackle at Branbilla, who looked more amazed than angry at Bizzarri's antics. Although no contact was made, the intention was clear enough, and the referee gave Bizzarri his second yellow card. Noticeably, his teammates did not rush up to offer their consolations.
With their attack severely curtailed, Cyco had little choice but to retreat further into their shell, and Grilled could have lost themselves in the distance had Rotteveel not endured a poor stretch of form. He slid and slipped no less than twice in the opposition box when in a perfect position to score, and topped that with a weak penalty kick straight to a waiting Valère Blachère. It was left to
Zoltán Árva to ensure that Grilled's ascendancy did not completely go to waste, as the defender rounded his opposite number to squeeze the ball in at the far post.
Árva certainly felt at home in the less-than-ideal conditions, as he put in a couple of very decent strikes in the second half, one of which had the goalie well beaten, but shaved the crossbar. The heavy pitch was murder for some of the other players, though.
Dani Spirig came off the worst, as he noticeably twisted his ankle while trying to hoof the ball upfield. His distress was so genuine that the Cyco players immediately stopped the game by kicking the ball out of play.
The visitors weren't spared either as they lost their captain, Petri Keminen. The Finnish striker was a real nuisance even without the departed Bizzarri, and reeled off a few shots that had Valdir concerned. His time was cut short when he crashed to the ground after losing his footing in a puddle, and landed heavily on his right knee. Argentinean player-coach Jorge Horacio Sarría was forced to come on as a substitute for the final eight minutes.
Although it was unlikely in the extreme that they would be able to turn the game around, Cyco found the courage for a last stand, and didn't leave The Cooking Pot empty-handed. Central defender Fernán Tomé used his strength to hold Talib off as he jostled for a ball played into space, and surprised Valdir with a mighty effort into the top corner.
Cyco would not be the only team to lose their captain, as Tomé was buoyed by his goal and began tearing at Grilled players in possession. Han was too canny to get caught with the ball, but was still upended by Tomé's wild sliding tackle, which got the Spaniard a caution. Han couldn't quite get back up on his feet, sadly, and passed his armband to Quah as he was stretchered off to applause from the home fans.
