Ideas Do It
Sense Of Safri
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim underscored his increasing importance to the team by bagging both goals in a mostly-routine two-nil win over soccerid, who did threaten to make the endgame extremely interesting with a frantic final few minutes. The visitors had turned an abysmal season around with two victories and a draw in their latest three league games, only for Grilled to put a damper on their aspirations just moments into the match.
soccerid's revival could be attributed to the return of key personnel such as Cai Kunming and Duncan Wallwork in midfield, who were an instant upgrade from the squad players who faced Grilled in the first half of the season. Their well-regarded young forward Tan Keong Meng was also featured, though he would be overshadowed on this occasion.
Mohd Safri was the guy who did that, as he timed his late dash into the box perfectly on an indirect free-kick in the third minute, after Chow and Dorogan had acted as decoys on the other side. Bögengang ended up making the simplest of passes to the unmarked U-20 star, who only had to hold his nerve and find an angle past Casarini.
The contest was hardly as one-sided as it had been a month ago, though, as soccerid gave as good as they got in midfield. Grilled's backline, which had looked sluggish against seluraralc last week, were in dreamland as Cai Kunming walked the ball inside, and only prompt recovery action by Mausisa prevented the midfielder from going one-on-one with Valdir.
After surviving another scare, this one from Astilla, who sent his attempt a foot wide, Mohd Safri gave Grilled some breathing space with a headed goal on the run. Dorogan appeared to have messed up the approach play with a cross at an awkward height, but Mohd Safri met it brilliantly to direct the ball down and under Casarini's reach.
Ciro Penati was then handed his first league appearance in five games, as he replaced
Erik Back at the start of the second half, but his uninspired play whenever he received possession will make it hard for him to press for a regular spot.
Anders Josefsson, who had gone about his duties well, was taken off for
Kyou-Chull Kim fifteen minutes later.
With Penati's spark absent, Grilled struggled to create any clear-cut chances, other than a single good cutback to Bögengang that Casarini about managed to claw aside. Not that the Birds approached the task with much urgency, but they could have regretted their casual approach when Vukota slipped when turning on the ball in the 88th minute.
Tan Keong Meng, who had been anonymous otherwise, was onto it in a flash, but his lack of experience told as he immediately hoofed the ball, without noticing that there was no other defender around. Valdir instinctively punched it back at Tan, who this time had enough presence of mind to hold the ball up. Heinsohn gave the youngster another go with a quick one-two, but this time Valdir was well-prepared, and once again stopped Tan's improved effort.
