Warriors Chitred
Finishing What He Started
The Birds had not entered this Islanders Grand Tour Round of 32 match with particularly high hopes, but it would finish more than satisfactorily for them, as they nicked the win from Suriname contestants Zeedijk Warriors. The Warriors, an offshoot of Dutch club SC Bobo, were leading their Division Five league in the Hattrick International system having won their first four games, but they wouldn't manage to hold out indefinitely here. Recent star signing and former Cameroon international defensive midfielder Geremi Feutmba would shine in marshalling his troops, but two lapses would be enough to seal his team's fate.
Tian Yonghang would place his trust in a 2-5-3 today, with Chan, Moey and Chitre attacking the Warriors' five at the back. There were no obvious weak links in that department, with 25 year-old homegrown centreback Kenneth van den Heuvel enjoying a particularly good early season. Up front, they would rely on Ricardo Djoekasan targeting
Gilbert Webb's left side of defence together with winger Garry Tammenga, although
Paulino Trindade's willingness to adapt would greatly lighten the Scots veteran's load.
The spectators had barely settled in, when the Birds bust out a serious attempt that could well have finished in a goal;
Gandhik Chitre, who had been garnering much attention for his exemplary displays in attack, would somehow flick it past Sergio Karijodinomo on his first touch in the second minute, while spinning around the defender the other way. Alas, Chitre couldn't locate the ball himself immediately after this stylish improvisation, and his delayed effort would be closed down by goalie Vijay Kulkarni.
That would do a lot to warm the crowd up, and they would be in full voice as the Warriors pressed their own agenda shortly afterwards. Djoekasan would be put through in the fifth minute as their overloading on the left worked, but he would place it into the side netting. There would be something of a stalemate for a long while as the disciplined Warriors backline trapped Grilled's forwards mostly, and their own free-kick try in the 29th would see it floated just a little too high for Djoekasan.
The Birds were moving quite well on the left themselves, especially as their opponents tried to take the initiative more often, and
Kalki Parvathaneni would play more than a few nice triangles with Trindade and
Chan Ze Han. They would invariably be warded off, however, until the 33rd minute. Then, Chan would finally manage to dart to the inside of Van den Heuvel simultaneous with Kalki's release of the pass, and a delightfully-executed sliding finish would give him the necessary extra inches, to clip the ball home before the last defender could get to it.
No less of a poacher's goal looked likely to get past Kulkarni, from how his defenders had acquitted themselves over the half, and it was much the same story for most of the second half.
Lim An Keng came on for Kalki and took his time to fit in, which didn't help Grilled's cause. Warriors had Djoekasan test Germanakos with a good lob from deep in the 59th, and
Moey Xin Seng return the favour a couple of minutes later, both to no avail.
It then got a bit dicey for the Warriors, as first Geremi Feutmba and then Garry Tammenga got themselves booked, as Grilled's forwards began to exert themselves more fully. Tammenga was fortunate to stay on, really, after his brutal late jump in on
Moey Xin Seng, who would hobble off for
Teo Chuan Yong shortly afterwards. Djoekasan would seize the chance to finally put his side level in the flux that resulted, though, ironically as Tammenga burst forth to assist with a crisp low cross from the right.
Extra time looked a distinct possibility, if with some nervous moments for the Birds too, such as when
Bhavya Panigrahi brought Trimur Ronaldy down just before he entered the penalty area. Grilled would have the advantage in composure here, as it turned out, but with just five minutes left, there didn't seem great odds of a winner... until Chitre simply blew Kulkarni away with a stunning right-footed piledriver in the minute added on.
