Hansa Hoofing
Elvis Lives
Marcus Liehner's first act after he was confirmed as head coach for the new season was to increase the number of physical conditioning sessions, and the second was to introduce German club Hansa Foot-Fighters as training partners for a fortnight.
This was preceded by a friendly between the two clubs, with Liehner opting to give first-teamers Valdir, Árva and Talib some practice against the firepower of the visitors. Without decent cover in front of them, ther trio were sorely tested in the ninety minutes, but came out with a passable evaluation.
While most of the attention had been on Hansa's attacking partnership of Andermann and Landsoght, they turned out to be more of the withdrawn striker mould, though that did not help Grilled's backline as they proved intelligent at coordinating their passes. Elvis Lovrenčić was the first to benefit, as he sprung the offside trap in the eleventh minute.
Zulkiflee got some flak from his seniors for not stepping up in time then, but it was Talib's turn to be blamed in the 39th minute as the Pakistani was slow to react when Andermann looked around and saw Elvis making his run. Neither of Grilled's other defenders could get across in time, and Elvis slipped the ball past Valdir for 2-0.
American left winger Jack Douglas then outpaced all and sundry to add the third, before Valdir chose his moment to remind the spectators of his pedigree, with a superlative reaction save from Elvis, after Jeroen Landsoght skied one over his bar. That was to be Landsoght's last act of the day, as Hjortlind somehow escaped a second yellow card for stamping on the forward's foot, albeit accidentally.
Polish substitute Anatol Malanowski got an assist soon enough, as he lifted in a looping corner kick, and Valdir found his path to the ball blocked by his own teammates. The Brazilian goalie shoved his way in and slapped the ball away, but Douglas was on hand to nick it in.
Grilled's defence made some commendable plays as they dealt with an unending wave of Hansa assaults, but were not to deny Elvis his hat-trick, with the German standing highest as he glanced a free header right into the top corner in the 68th minute.
