Magnuskärr Make Light
Baena Briefly
Northern Irish third divisioners Magnuskärr FC - who have arguably overtaken their Finnish forebears Tepolinkkel - eliminated Grilled Birds from the Islanders Grand Tour tournament today, and it wasn't even close, with the final score having them five goals clear. Although the Birds just about matched Magnuskärr in midfield, they were overwhelmed just about everywhere else, which was also roundly reflected in the distribution of actual chances.
On paper, Magnuskärr's 3-5-2 with fullbacks playing wide didn't seem automatically superior to what the Birds had to offer, but the extra energy that their midfielders could exhibit, would later come to the fore. This wouldn't be as evident early in the first half, which had local centrepiece Cameron Le Witt more than competent, but far from overbearing against
Aw Keng Chuan and company. Both Bilal and Kalki were mostly subdued by their matchups even then, though, which had to be a warning sign.
If Le Witt was their fulcrum, however, left winger Alistair Henstock had to be their pride, with the 21 year-old one-club man having won eight caps with the national youth setup thus far. Henstock measured up more than favourably against
Enrique Baena, and his physical advantage had him barge past the Spanish youngster, and then a flatfooted
Bhavya Panigrahi in the 16th minute. The shot was on, but Henstock then very unselfishly left it for senior Don Crouch coming up in a better position, which gave
Dimitris Germanakos next to no chance of getting across in time. 1-0, Magnuskärr.
Enrique Baena would look quite bad, and not really by any fault of his own, in having to deal with Henstock, but he would conjure up some moments too, when left to his own devices. His abandonment of the wing to double up with Bilal looked foolhardy for a moment, but they won the gamble with Alfredo César Nêveda rushing his tackle. Now outnumbering the relevant defenders, the duo would advance menacingly, and Baena would supply the final burst of pace to put it past Ethiopian goalie Tesfu Tessema.
That equalizer likely flattered the Birds, to be frank, with it being their first real chance created. A more realistic representation returned with Panigrahi booked for a professional foul on striker Roelly Moses in the 36th minute, and Magnuskärr would end the half ahead after good strikes from first Le Witt, and then David Krøger. Both were well-worked, although the recovery potential of both Grilled centrebacks left much to be desired.
The Birds had not entirely given up yet, but the return of the second half only rubbed it in as to how far they were from mounting a serious comeback attempt.
Kalki Parvathaneni, who had not been contributing for some time, would be replaced by
Lim An Keng fifteen minutes into the new half - but that merely had Grilled fall further behind, to Preston Fuller's quite-inconvenient wing-switching.
Not to be upstaged by his fellow youth international, Henstock would go up a gear with Fuller testing Germanakos several times in succession, and a fine return volley off the last of those would go in off the far post. This personal contest would be won by Fuller with a second from some sloppy play from Panigrahi at the back, and by the time
Moey Xin Seng trudged off for
Teo Chuan Yong in the 75th, this game was long over as a contest.
