Grinding Horror
Bloodbath In Bratislavský
Grilled's so-called friendly with Slovakian Division Six champions FC PK Grinders became a bloodbath on the pitch, as neither side were willing to give any quarter. In footballing terms, Grilled's reserves were badly outclassed, but they gave as good as they got in any side business.
The second team were well and truly used to defeat, so when Otto Buchbinder crept through and drilled a less than convincing shot past Bao-Tam, it was nothing too out of the ordinary. Buchbinder's in-your-face celebrations on the Grilled veteran rankled, however, and Pigni was scarcely less well-behaved after he fought his way past Chuan Heng to make it 2-0.
The simmer finally came to a boil when young Eduard Remiar overestimated his speed and brought bin Othman down after the ball had gone; several players surrounded the scene, and the referee barely managed to defuse the situation by pulling out a card belatedly.
It was the home side's turn to feel cheated when journeyman midfielder Vít Ráček fell to the ground, shortly after a hard collision with Mirchev in the centre circle. It appeared completely accidental, but Remair ran up to the referee with his elbows swinging, accusing the Grilled man of the dirty deed. This time, the match official remained unmoved, which made him extremely unpopular with the crowd.
Schintgen then made it three for the Grinders, but the match itself slowly turned into a mere sideplot as Hjortlind went down clutching his leg after rising for a header. Someone appeared to take a swing at his calves when he was up in the air, but it would have been unreasonable for the culprit to be identified in the press of players.
The hosts didn't let up while the Birds were down to ten men with Hjortlind on the sidelines, and swiftly scored through Ephraim Haufe after the drop ball. It was fortunate that half-time came when it did, as the match was rapidly spiralling out of control.
Some semblance of order was resumed after the cooling-off period, and Schintgen's second through a wonderful free-kick early in the second half passed without incident, as did Wiesenstock's goal. Remiar then prevented a clear goalscoring opportunity for Grilled when he got his arm in the way of a goalbound attempt by Jianyong, who looked incensed at the perceived lack of sportsmanship.
Remiar was duly ejected for that, but it didn't help Grilled's cause as they were still far too light in midfield. Just when it looked as though the match might end peacefully, Seng-Huat put in a fair but harder tackle than might be expected in a non-competitive game, leaving Tinus Korthals in a world of pain.
The home side got their revenge with three goals in the next three minutes, while Grilled's bad form continued as Jianyong fluffed a face-saving chance to score, to the derision of the opposing fans. Abd Jamil added to the infamy by putting his hands on an opposition player two minutes from time, with the referee wisely deciding to end the game some seconds before the ninety minutes were actually up.
