Knysna Rebound
Boets Sticks Boot In
The Birds fell 2-3 in the second round of the Dominion International Cup against South African III.8 representatives FC Knysna, as the former Consolation Cup winners made the most of the Birds' wastefulness in the first half. Grilled should have tied it up long before FC Knysna revived in the second half, but a lack of composure in front of goal combined with Swiss goalkeeper Saidy Kolbe's will, had them humbled.
FC Knysna had drawn Fjell IL 3-3 in the first round, and they would stick with the same standard 3-5-2 with wingbacks today. 27 year-old central midfielder Mike Turnherr, who has hovered around the edges of the national setup for some time, would be their pivotal man, and it was soon obvious as to how he made all around him look better. Other than that, former youth international forwards Muqtada Wael and Ufuk Kekilli looked lethal in attack with their very different but complementary styles, which had both
Genki Nagano and
Hisham Zubari thrown off tilt for some time.
The Birds would survive those early probes, and they would record their first actual shot 23 minutes in, when
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko cut in from the right to clip it inches outside Kolbe's far post. Knysna would go ahead four minutes later as Wael's exemplary dribbling finally outfoxed Genki and set Kekilli loose.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul put his soul into a tremendous piledriver from the left corner of the penalty area on the restart, and only a strong Saidy Kolbe left arm kept it from going in.
Grilled were the ones who were calling the shots for the remainder of the half by any measure, and it was down to the South Africans to cope as best as they could. Several attacks would end in speculative long passes, before
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko broke clear on the right to set Marzuki up with a sitter, in the 38th minute. Marzuki would be booked for a vicious sweep on former South African U-20 star Matt Govus several minutes later, with
Chad Thach dragging a likely goal wide next.
It didn't initially feel like the Birds would regret those misses as the second half progressed, as they kept up with their offensive containment of their oppponents. An extended press had German wingback Marcus Spradau forced to put it behind for a corner about the 56th minute, and
Genki Nagano sent an inswinger smack into the middle of the FC Knysna.
Lim An Keng would be hanging in mid-air as the ball fell, and there would be no getting to his mighty header, that zipped in just underneath the crossbar.
FC Knysna had not really shown their other face yet, however, and this would only reveal itself eight minutes later. Grilled had wound down having secured the lead, only to find themselves starting to get dragged around whilst on defence.
Genki Nagano and
Ananda Hettiarachchi had dedicated themselves a little too much to moving forward, and there would be nobody watching Ufuk Kekilli as he dashed across the box onto a crossfield lob. His first-time strike would crash off the bar, but Muqtada Wael had expected something like that, and coolly swept the equalizer home.
The Birds would then be sunk three minutes on, as they were too naive in trying to recover their earlier dominance. As it turned out, FC Knysna were a lot faster on turnovers than they had let on, and Mapogo Bengono released a splendid through ball for the onrushing Reinier Boets, for his side to take the lead again. Grilled did get FC Knysna on the ropes in the final few minutes, with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul letting it rip from six yards, only to have Boets save his team at the other end too.
