Not So Happy Feet
Suffocating Six
Grilled Birds coasted to their second Group A win in the Golden Trophy, putting themselves in a very good position to qualify for the next stage. Fluffy Bunny Feets had not put up much resistance against Stormarn Blackbirds before, and the Swedish sixth divisioners were again caught short on the registration end, and could only muster up nine men to start the contest with.
The Birds were not about to pull their punches against Fluffy's unconventional 2-3-3, all the more as Finnish custodian Uoti Söyrinki had boldly invited Grilled to give their all beforehand. It would have been churlish to hold back against such spirit, and
Chia Kwang Tse duly fired hard and true from
Brian Reddy's slicing pass forward in the seventh minute, to get his team off and running.
This would quickly develop into a rout with a very active
Gandhik Chitre benefitting from Grilled's constant movement across the front, with Reddy and
Chan Ze Han the main contributors for this half. This had Chitre pick up two goals from more or less free looks, and Chan squeezing one past a sea of legs in the 28th, for 4-0 by half-time.
Brian Reddy seemed to have an angle three minutes on, but took too much time squaring up, and instead curled a hasty cross over the bar.
Joe Reece came on for the second half to no great effect as the Birds carelessly wasted a host of opportunities, with
Chad Thach catching Reddy's short cross in the 57th minute with a high right foot, but was unable to keep the volley on target.
Aw Keng Chuan then had a go in the 69th minute with a wild rake that flew across goal, but this was retrieved by a hardworking
Hwang Teck Fu, and turned back inside for
Lim An Keng to force home.
Uoti Söyrinki did have a moment to himself as he extended a long left arm to deny
Chia Kwang Tse's seemingly-unstoppable missile from ten yards 77 minutes in, but there was nothing to be done for
Ha Qicai's slightly-deflected attempt that bounced between his feet, five minutes later. Young Mozambique forward Faustino Marques, whom the ball had come off, could only smile wryly at that one.
