Divers Keepers
Coshutt Bangs Heads
English playmaker Will Coshutt marked his 31st birthday with a quality hat-trick against Grilled Birds, as the former Macross Island FC star made the most of his considerable stature, on Wilhelm Thorstensson's regular deliveries from the right flank. This had Liverpool Port Divers steadily pull clear of Grilled in the FC Dominion International Cup, and the English Division Two club are now through to the next round.
Boasting of an international forward line in point man Stephen Ferguson, his Three Lions teammate Jermaine Blanchfield and Venezuelan Alberto Urrea, Divers were a team that the Birds had to admit were beyond them in attack at the moment. Yet it was Grilled who struck the first blow, with
Gandhik Chitre taking advantage of the gap that Divers left on their left to blast it past current Syrian national custodian Amjad Habbouche in the seventh minute.
The reprisal was swift in all ways, as Thomas Pinciani embarassed
Brian Reddy - no slouch himself - down the touchline a couple of minutes later. Urrea called for it, and held
Ha Qicai off successfully to reach the incoming ball to equalize.
Dimitris Germanakos's positioning wasn't the best then, but his rapid backpedalling would not do anything either when Coshutt slung one high over him, with 15 minutes gone.
Grilled Birds could hardly contest the splendid finish, but they were not about to be outworked yet, and
Hwang Teck Fu ran through to have it at 2-2 in the 29th minute. It could well have been the Birds ahead again, if not for the lanky Habbouche getting a touch on
Chia Kwang Tse's goalbound strike next. The corner would be returned for Coshutt to give Divers the lead once more, sadly, and Blanchfield would then get into the act with Grilled increasingly careless.
The two-goal deficit had to be intimidating against a club ready to punish the slightest vulnerability, but Grilled had no realistic option than to duke it out, and that was what they did. In truth, Divers were not the most impressively defensively, and
Chad Thach's chip over Habbouche hinted that this was the right choice. Of course, there was always the sting in the tail, and Urrea's second in the 70th minute probably reflected the balance of play fairly.
The Birds seemed to be enjoying themselves despite being behind, and Chitre gave as good as he got, in mopping up after Habbouche had failed to hold onto
Aw Keng Chuan's skipping grounder from twenty yards, with fifteen minutes to go. Coshutt put his team beyound reach as he backed into Ha for a towering header, though, and Tony Transjö broke past an overwhelmed
Paulino Trindade for their seventh straight after.
Lim An Keng tried to put his name up in lights in injury time, but Habbouche would not flinch against his decently-struck effort.
