36 FC 4 - 0 Grilled Birds
Thirty-Six Crusher
Gillissen's Graft
Grilled were out of it, capitulating 4-0 to Hong Kong Division Two side 36 FC on a soaked ground. Grilled were just too poor in all departments, but that much was to be expected with a side consisting of purely squad players other than
Asher Stanton.
36 FC had brushed aside German side Pdm I in their last training match, and although Grilled prepared for it with four defenders, Seng-kar at centerback didn't inspire confidence. Nor Suhaimi and Seng-Huat have never risen far past their youth standards, and after ten minutes 34 year-old French player-coach Gilbert Gillissen chased a neat pass from Jérémy Cohen to score.
But even by then Grilled knew they were in for it with a below-par backline, and their counter-attacking rapport was never put to use as 36 FC's hungry midfielders kept them pressed back. Recent buy Salvador Português got the crowd going with a Brazillian banana kick from outside the box, but Bao-Tam somehow tracked it through the blinding rain.
17 year-old Australian rookie Thanassis Koumaditis was not to be stopped though, and again it was Cohen who made the goal by skipping past Seng-Huat and crossing to the near post, where Koumaditis rose to flick it over Bao-Tam. Local teen Seow Teh-Wei helped in the third, which Anders Persson claimed after several players went for the same ball.
To tell the truth Grilled's midfield was its strong point, and it was when the ball got played up or back that cracks began to show. Even
Lan Tuan-Mu wasn't immune from the debilitation, allowing himself to be taken in by a half-baked bodyfake that he would have clamped down on on a better day. Cohen was stopped only by the goalposts that time.
Chafing from not getting a single decent break, Grilled began to lose their shape as the more attack-minded among them wandered up optimistically in the hopes of creating passing space. Several lucky escapes stopped those thoughts, with Bao-Tam 's vocal expletives hastening the process.
Cohen was denied once more in the second half thanks to Bao-Tam's alertness, as the goalkeeper sent a clear signal to his paymasters that he was still a force to contend with in the league. Cohen was well through on goal, but Bao-Tam never wavered and came charging out, discomiting Cohen enough that he failed to chip the vulnerable custodian.
Koumaditis was next to find the woodwork, but Romanian winger
Dragos Olaru's two yellow cards brought a struggling Grilled side down to ten men. Olaru has yet to find his feet in the team, and the fact that Grilled didn't seem the worse off without him spelt trouble for his future career at the club.
There was one last hurrah for 36 FC to come, as the fleet-footed Gillissen kept his balance in the 80th minute to stay upright after Seng-Huat's blatant tackle and caught Bao-Tam napping with a strike into the near side of goal.
