Foundations Found
Magnificent Mayur
The reverse friendly fixture saw Grilled more than make up for their 1-3 loss in Switzerland with a 6-1 whipping at The Cooking Pot, as the visitors failed to replicate their slickness in midfield and paid dearly for it.
The_Monoliths made a few changes, introducing Nils Froemmel in defence and giving homegrown Michele Mazzolimo his professional debut at left-back, while moving Constantin Eschle back to his preferred central midfield spot. They also had a completely new-look forward line with neither Gino Giraud nor Enrico Bernhauer making the trip, as veterans Ralf Diacon and Angel Petrov took their places, while goalie František Obst inherited the captain's armband.
In contrast, the only difference in Grilled's eleven was
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim, who had been suspended for the weekend defeat against heimu XI. He had also played for half an hour against Monoliths, but failed to make the impact he desired, and judging from the way he ran onto the field in the downpour once more, he viewed this as unfinished business.
It sure looked like a continuation of last week as Monoliths drove Grilled backwards again, and a close shave from Froemmel was followed by a classy pop from Diacon that found the back of the net, after the long-serving striker had sloshed his way past Bakhtiar.
The Birds then halted further development just as they were getting started, with the turning point being Gregor Liembd's completely illegal tackle on Mohd Safri a metre outside the penalty area. The first-team star made as if to blast the dead ball, but skipped over it, allowing
Mayur Gudivada to send it into the opposite corner.
The pair were by some distance the top Grilled performers of the day, with Mohd Safri acknowledging Gudivada's cutting edge by laying the ball to him at every opportunity. The Monoliths had grown so accustomed to them targeting the left that Gudivada nearly had an empty right flank to himself after switching with
Hung Wee Li, and only the sprinter's pace of young Mazzolimo prevented him from getting clean through.
Diacon had a great opportunity to send his side ahead again as a sustained attack saw the Grilled defence fail to cut out a speculative loft behind their lines, but Noubaryan did enough to get his body in the way. Mohd Safri then seized the initiative for the Birds with an excellent body-feint against Mazzolimo in the 32nd minute that was bought hook, line and sinker by the teenager, before waiting for Obst to commit prior to applying the finishing touch.
It was more or less an even contest at this stage, and Finnish coach Ami Karo tried to inject more urgency into his team by sending the eager Fredy Jevoli into midfield. The visitors were again quicker out of the blocks, and it was a wonder how Grilled managed to hold on; much of it was down to Noubaryan, and especially his outstanding save against Petrov after the unguarded Bulgarian eyed the far corner with a terrific shot.
Again it was Gudivada who turned things around, as he came out of nowhere to race through a momentarily flat Monoliths backline and make it 3-1. That might have been slightly undeserved, but Grilled's attackers soon confirmed that they had collectively found their finishing touches, as the transfer-listed
Wardi Azhari slipped in and took a successful pop at goal immediately after.
This time, nothing went right for the visitors once they approached within range, and newcomer Fredy Jevoli could hardly believe that the was not on the scoresheet after twice being foiled by Noubaryan at point blank. The opposite applied for Grilled, who made the most of their openings, with
Hung Wee Li managing to parlay a sort-of-promising position into a goal with some impressive close control.
The day however belonged to Gudivada, who two minutes later sealed a very satisfying victory with an equally delectable free-kick for his hat-trick.