No.1 0 - 8 Grilled Birds
Numero Ocho
A New Langeland
Grilled sought out their own tonic after two depressing collapses in the S-League, and found it with a solid eight-nil win in Denmark in the last eight of the Trinity Cup. The green-and-white diagonal stripes of Division Seven side No.1 forced Grilled to don their silver away costume, but in all other categories Grilled were in the ascendant,
Jan Langeland putting five past the hosts.
No.1, who had kept a clean sheet for almost three hours in the competition, were broken eight minutes into the game by Swedish striker
Ulf Hjortlind, who recovered from a terrible first touch to thread the ball past 48 year-old goalkeeper Massimo Di Biase's shoulder. Di Biase, also the coach of No.1, was no closer three minutes later as
Nui Pakpao overtook Riviera on the right and profited from a slight deflection.
The home side's Tommy Nygård was taken to task for the third goal, an entirely preventable blunder that let Riviera survey his flank unattended for several seconds. He was in the ideal position to set up a cross for any of the Grilled attackers crowding the penalty area, and got it to Rottman who brought the ball down and lashed it straight in.
By this time, the home crowd were stony-faced, and they watched expressionless as poor defending gifted Grilled a fourth. Not spying any attractive passing outlet, the center-backs' lengthy exchanges were preyed on by Hjortlind who played it square to Langeland. Langeland casually walked it to goal and drew Massimo out.
Massimo did claim the highlight of the day when he stretched incongruously for a senior to palm away Riviera's far-post free kick, a feat that led the winger to applaud his fellow Spaniard. No such charity was forthcoming from Langeland, who hassled Massimo relentlessly as he tried to win space for a kick out of defence. By the time the keeper was willing to settle for clearing to safety, Langeland had robbed the ball and rolled it into an empty net.
Langeland's hat-trick came from a more conventional route, thumping the ball into the bottom corner from an assist by Rottman. He added two more in another five minutes, as young central defender Svend Jørgensen was on his last legs after a sapping game.
