Licked By Lads
Gerasimou Great
Grilled's mini-revival ended as abruptly as it began, with the Wee Li'l Lads repeating the masterclass in midfield that got them past Fafane Club to overwhelm the Birds. On the whole, the match was competitive, and Grilled might well have taken it had they capitalized on their counterattacks.
Grilled came out in the same 4-3-3 as they had used successfully against Semipros, and the stout defence nearly paid dividends in the sixteenth minute as Olsson cleared his lines after Lads returned a corner.
Ronny Behr was again found loitering furthest forward, and he did well to keep the ball with a slightly clumsy dragback, but could only blast it straight at a relieved Tomas Andersson.
Such surprises were hardly the sole domain of Grilled, with Lads' Daniel Castelain playing a beautiful slide-rule pass into Hock Hock's path - or at least, where his path would have been had he continued his run; with both sides having shown their ability to score, the defenders began closing down more tightly than usual, and both
Björn Olsson and Chrystian Kopecki entered the referee's book.
The home team's superior possession began to tell, and they were a whisker away from taking the lead after Mario Candia dribbled his way around Mausisa and tried to catch Valdir out at his near post. Only lightning reflexes and a long left leg saved the Birds there. Not to be outdone, Andersson pulled off a save of similar quality from Simões as Grilled countered down the right too.
Lads then lost central defender Roger Åkerstedt to a clash with Yonghang in the 34th minute, but that proved to be a blessing in disguise as they would score once the match was restarted. Greek forward Diamantis Gerasimou snatched at his shot after the ball was transferred wide, but that mistake wound up fooling Valdir, who had reacted too quickly.
Behind at half time,
Han Lik-Tsun sent Back and Bögengang on, and followed up by introducing Quah to midfield for Olsson after ten more minutes of getting outplayed. However, that didn't quite have the effect that the Birds had hoped for, especially with it still being five against four in the middle. Gerasimou added to the Lads' lead with a cool finish in the 68th minute, and Grilled's Cup hopes were looking less than rosy.
Grilled mustered a rally after that, and
Roberto Mausisa cut the deficit before Kopecki got sent off for his second yellow card, but that would not be enough to see off the Lads. As it turned out, only inspired goalkeeping from Valdir would prevent a hattrick-hunting Gerasimou from bagging another.
