Kotte Up Twice
Reece Not Last
The final round of the World Battle tournament would see the Singaporean II.2 matched up against Sri Lanka's II.1, and Grilled Birds' assignment would be Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte SC, an affiliate of Poland's Pi_er_kwadrat. Kotte were certainly worthy opponents as they raised English head coach John Moore's preferred 5-3-2 to an art form, with Polish skipper Marek Wrona responsible for making it work, often personally from his post in left attach.
Otherwise, the most critical piece of Moore's setup was Filipino defensive midfielder Alfonso Penn, as the 27 year-old was responsible for stopping - or at least slowing - the opposition attack, before it reached his defence. Penn had other talents in abundance too, that said, not the least his sheer speed of recovery. That was on display in the 29th minute, when he blazed down the middle on a Kotte counter as
Brian Reddy's shot was battered straight back by Swiss goalie Tino Soper, and he indeed scored with Wrona supplying the final assist.
Grilled were not taking that lying down, and as it happened, they were no slouches on the offense either.
Chan Ze Han might have been shut out of the league starting lineup by his far younger teammates, but despite being forty, there were moments where he remained effectively unguardable. One such was when he forced a corner off former Sri Lankan youth international defender Yusuf Hamid in the 33rd, and from
Federico Parada's corner delivery,
Chia Kwang Tse followed up his incredible four goals against Real Verdimar Banfora, with a solid glanced header past Soper.
The Birds would have no luck as the half drew to a close, and after
Aw Keng Chuan nodded another great effort off the bar three minutes after Chia's goal, it would be Vinay Murthy to catch
Cameron Law too far to his inside in the 42nd minute, with a terrific right-footed drive ripped diagonally across the box.
Lim An Keng was close to equalizing on the restart, but after pulling out of a possible shot with Tharindu Ekanayake in attendance, he could not find a second opening in time.
Hwang Teck Fu replaced a quiet
Mohd Marzuki Khairul for the second half, and after a period of sustained Grilled pressure focused in isolating Penn in the middle,
Lim An Keng would make up for his earlier indecision with a splendid strike after 62 minutes. With
Gandhik Chitre calling for it on his right, Lim would seem to consider jabbing it across as
Chad Thach's weighted pass ran by him, before simply following the ball several feet wider, and twisting a shot high into the net.
That was two-all, and with Kotte really clamming up now,
Tian Yonghang made the decision to put
Joe Reece on for Chan, with fifteen minutes left. Reece had been unrecognizable from his unduly-confident past self in recent weeks, after having also been frozen out from the starting lineup, but he did retain his classy touch in spurts. Before his delicate chip to give Grilled the lead for the first time 81 minutes in, however, the Birds would have to survive a scare, when
Brian Reddy attempted to dribble his way out of a tight spot in defence, and nearly ran it into his own goal.
Well,
Cameron Law would nick it away then, but there was no denying Czech striker Olaf Last once Kotte broke away again, as the Birds forgot to defend.
Teo Chuan Yong's entry for
Chad Thach did put the Sri Lankans under the magnifying glass for the final few minutes, and Chia nearly reprised his incredible scoring form, when he volleyed it first time from Reddy's 88th minute cross - and sent it inches wide. Tharindu Ekanayake would be booked for barging Hwang down from behind as Kotte scrambled to clear, but
Federico Parada could not get the free-kick through the five-man defensive wall.