Titans Exhausted
Aw In Play
The Birds recorded their fifth win in the World Battle for this season, as they overhauled Faroese II.2 former Tjaldurssteypið winners Tjørnuvík Titans in the last ten minutes. The spin-off of German club FC Phoenix WD had taken the lead before resigning themselves to fending off Grilled's persistent attacks, but a series of woeful misses raised the very real possibility that it would end in a tie.
Tjørnuvík Titans had like Grilled won four in the tournament entering this match, and were moreover on a six-game unbeaten run in the league, with a 1-1 draw against FC B36 Tórshavn just last weekend. 27 year-old hometown favourite Geirbjørn á Blankaskála skippered a lineup with next to no glaring shortcomings, comprising steady Spanish goalkeeper Jonatan Puchades, left wing star Óðin Gerðalíð, Polish-Iranian strike pair Adrian Rybakowski and Morteza Dabestani, and many more.
That they were fully balanced was however also not entirely true, as their fullbacks soon hinted at being a potential concern, being largely indifferent on joining the offensive. There would be an exception for veteran Ísak í Víkum in the 19th minute, though, as he saw something in Gerðalíð's advance up the left in stages. Víkum ventured up right as the winger pulled out the stops against
Brian Reddy and
Hong Kang Leong, and shoved his way past
Ha Qicai to convert.
It was not a happy development for the Birds, some of whom felt Ha hard done by Víkum's physical assertion, and the ill-feeling boiled over in the 25th minute.
Aw Keng Chuan found himself on thin ice as he retaliated against Jørundur Laksafoss, and escaped with a yellow. Hong would fortunately change the narrative with an atypical free-kick four minutes later, that had
Mohd Marzuki Khairul stretching unsuccessfully for it; it turned out that contact was not required, as it plopped in at the far post!
Puchades could not hide his annoyance at this misjudgment, but he had a lot more work to do. Grilled were building up with regularity now, and
Aw Keng Chuan was gifted a fine double opportunity in the 38th. However, his first attempt spun wide upon hitting Jóhan Pauli Joensen's outstretched leg, and he would then fail to get it under control promptly from
Hwang Teck Fu's corner kick knock-on. This led to a free-kick just outside the box, but
Hong Kang Leong drilled his low strike scarcely wide.
Paulino Trindade entered for Hwang at the beginning of the second half, as
Tian Yonghang went for a change of style on the left, but there would be little perceptible effect against a stolid Haraldur Dam. Instead, it would be the Titans to advance more, which had Dabestani worry
Dimitris Germanakos with an impudent lob on the go, in the 67th minute. That looked like it was going in, until it came off the underside of the bar!
Perhaps appreciative of the letoff, the Birds would pick up the pace, right as the toll of the tropical heat started to show on their opponents. Trindade's substitution began to make a lot more sense as he gave Dam no time to recover with his constant sprinting, but a particularly excellent dribble would be stopped by Puchades in the 78th.
Hong Kang Leong lined the ensuing free-kick up, but missed by miles this time.
With but ten minutes remaining, Tian made a second tactical change with
Damian Hutter on for
Ha Qicai, which turned out to be just the shot in the arm that the team needed.
Brian Reddy redoubled his efforts after pulling on the armband, and a timely switching of flanks saw him bypass the heavy legs of Dam with ease, before drawing Víkum wide. Several Grilled players were eagerly awaiting the cross inside, and
Gandhik Chitre would be the lucky beneficiary when it did arrive.
There would be time for
Lim An Keng to lock down the win, as he charged past the distracted Titans backline next, to slip a grounder past Puchades. That was the sign for Tian to throw
Chan Ze Han on for Chitre to see out the rest of the game, which soon had Jóhan Pauli Joensen cutting him down after being fooled by his ever-inventive footwork.
