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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 93 | W | 3 - 1 | Tournament (Group Phase) | | Season 92 | D | 3 - 3 | Tournament (Group Phase) |
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Fjell Blow
D'Andrès Comes Good
Norwegian II.3 leaders Fjell IL got the better of Grilled Birds on their third attempt in the Dominion International Cup, after being drawn in the same group for as many times. True, they did it against ten men after another registration omission left the Birds a man short in midfield, but take nothing from Swiss left winger Alfons D'Andrès, who ran his heart out to plunder two goals for his team.
The referee was not prepared to be flexible on regulations after
Dan Alstani refused to start
Lim An Keng after the latter had been withdrawn after doctor's orders, but they actually did pretty well for the first third of the match, all considered.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko exhibited good adaptability with an increased rate of medium-to-long range passes to cover for Grilled's numerical disadvantage, and a sixth minute example had
Chia Kwang Tse rake one off Marco Noser's crossbar. The Italian goalkeeper then had to be brave to take it off
Hwang Teck Fu's feet twenty minutes later, as Grilled made the most of their limited possession in the opposition half.
Fjell were too good a side not to capitalize on their mad advantage for long, and they would achieve it by stretching the Birds out wide. On this, Bulgarian trickster Haydar Orta found much profit against a by-the-book
Wu Ping De, and his first assist came in the 34th minute from a low cross driven all the way across to Alfons D'Andrès, who caught it neatly with his thigh before crashing it past the late-arriving
Radomil Marcol. It was 2-0 three minutes later as Orta sent it higher this time, and one could hardly blame Marcol for not reaching Cecilio Cerutti's superlative first-time volley from ten yards.
Some fight did remain in Grilled Birds, and they fought grimly from the second restart, working their way up the middle with a studied patience.
Ananda Hettiarachchi knew he had to pick his moment well, and successfully picked out the instant that
Chad Thach peeled inside former Latvian youth international defender Jānis Vesmanis. The finish was a mess, unfortunately, and it was only good fortune that prevented D'Andrès from running free up the left. As it was,
Hisham Zubari put in a perfectly-timed tackle, and had the winger booked for attempting to win it back from behind.
Grilled remained heavy underdogs as the second half began, though they did recover somewhat during the slightly-extended break with Alstani doing what he could to buy some additional seconds for the players. Fjell IL's men were clearly the fresher nontheless, and it would be D'Andrès' turn to provide from the left.
Phillip Nagata left far too much room on the outside for him to run into, and
Genki Nagano couldn't keep up with Geir Hansen's supporting dash towards the centre - and that was 3-0.
Alstani appeared resigned to the defeat by this point, which had him take the hardworking but over-marked
Hwang Teck Fu off with fifteen minutes remaining, to see if
Mohd Marzuki Khairul could come up with anything. Marzuki would not have time to even start trying, when
Hisham Zubari crashed full into French skipper Brahim Laoufi on defensive duty. Vesmanis, who was nearby, then went full into Zubari with a sliding challenge in turn, which had both men called to account by the referee. That was one yellow card each, after a long talking-to.
The restart proved to be the opportunity that Grilled Birds needed, and quick thinking by
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko had
Chad Thach able to sneak his way behind, for a late consolation goal. Fjell restored their three-goal lead in the 82nd minute as Hansen unselfishly squared it across to D'Andrès with Marcol approaching, however, and it might even have been five had
Genki Nagano not been there to clear Asier Tranamil's grounder off the line two minutes on.
