Roaming Wild
Done In Forty-Five
The Birds eased into the fifth round in a businesslike fashion after doing the job in the first half against Division Four risers Wild Star, who entered the fixture with eleven straight wins behind them. In fact, they had not even conceded any goals in any of their games so far this season, other than three against Spartanx United in their last Cup match.
Part of that could be put down to Finnish coach Samuli Vilhunen's tactical nous, as his relatively tender age of 34 belied stints in Germany and South Korea with VFL Dusseldorf and FCchuncheon respectively. After observing how Grilled lined up, he relayed additional instructions to key centreback Rasbihari Dharakar from the sidelines, and it paid off as Wild Star fended off an indirect free kick from the Birds handily later on.
Discipline alone wasn't enough to mitigate the difference in quality between the sides indefinitely, though, and leading club scorer for the season
Tian Yonghang ran onto a through pass by Josefsson to get Grilled ahead. This was followed by Safrinho's tireless prodding at the defence with his speed paying off, as the speedy U-20 representative created a hole in the middle for
Fan Xiuyu to attack and score a second from.
Vilhunen was powerless to stem the tide, and much of it could be put down to Andorran playmaker
Marc Pujolràs, who was untouchable by the opposition midfield. Xiuyu's goal was followed immediately by a very concrete contribution from Pujolràs, who swung a free-kick around a thin defensive wall and past bemused Stars goalkeeper Sven de Kat for three-nil.
The Dutchman would be beaten once more before the break as
Walter Ross kept his little scoring run up with a simple finish after a defensive mix-up, with Christopher Xu indecisive in clearing his lines. A little incident with
Björn Olsson refusing to give the ball up after being ruled against then happened, which ended with the Swedish veteran copping a yellow card.
Pujolràs was taken off as a precaution before the second half kicked off, with
Chan Woon Jin given another opportunity to prove himself, after he held the fort well last week. The Grilled No. 40 was no Pujolràs, though, and shorn of their most creative influence, the team struggled to penetrate the home side's backline.
Acting coach Luis Alcántara had to warn Safrinho to take it easy after the eager striker ran himself into the ground, with his second yellow of the campaign for overexcited tackling leading into a painful-looking collision with the advertising hoardings, as he chased a stray pass with all his might. Although he failed to get on the scoresheet, his fervent efforts were recognized by the official appraisers, who bestowed upon him the Man of the Match accolade for his second match running.
Stars' Venezuelan standout Boris Caballero was quiet in comparism as his team failed to get the ball to him, and the best effort of the second period belonged to
Edvaldo Mourão, who tested de Kat with a sharply-taken volley from medium range.
