Manga Mangled
Seng Steps In
Grilled recorded a welcome 9-1 win against current Paraguayan II.4 leaders FC La Manga CCP's reserves, but at least one Birds player could not wholly enjoying the riot. Under-fire goalkeeper
Edmund Kryus started after being dropped for Grilled's last two competitive games, and looked to be coping well, when he received a stomp right to the kneecap.
Helmed by player-coach Gianfrancesco Benazzato, affectionately called "Tano" by the away fans, Manga faced an uphill battle against a strong Grilled midfield.
Ling Fuquan was also restored to the team, as he protected the right wing, with
Gleb Dorogan apparently forgiven after his bad mistake against J3 Almighty, as he filled in at centreback.
Twelve minutes into the increasingly one-way match,
Ling Fuquan struck the first. Kryus allowed himself a wan smile at the other end, but it turned into an expression of agony soon enough. A ball over the top had Gabriel Hidalgo hot on the chase, and though Kryus powered it away in time, the kick placed his knee right into the sole of Hidalgo's boot.
Judging from how ashen white Kryus' face became, all present feared that he had broken something, and the teenager was mortified at the damage he could have done. As it was a fair challenge, however, referee Finn Rohrscheidt could find nothing intrinsically wrong, and the game went on after
Dan Seng pulled on his gloves.
There were injuries aplenty to go around, and
Low Aik Jia accidentally stepped on Crispín Zorrilla in the process of making it 2-0. Zorrilla recovered, thankfully, and was well enough to head in from a corner in the 33rd minute. However,
Chow Ying Lee had by then made it three for the Birds.
Djan Bacelar nabbed an almost comical goal that saw the ball deflect off two players, before yet another uncompromising tackle by Ling nearly put Juan Ramón De Vaca out. The winger avoided most of the impact by lifting his leg just in time, but it was still serious enough for Rohrscheidt to show the yellow card.
Manga were on their third straight victory in the league, but with their best personnel such as Raffaele Cambiaghi not on the plane to Singapore, they had nothing to throw in Grilled's way.
Tian Yonghang got an easy fifth, and the arrival of
Pompeo Bellamoli for
Leong Wan Kang was immediately followed by Bacelar getting it through to Chow from a threatening free-kick.
Mohd Safri mopped it up with a late brace, and Bacelar completed his too, with the only major concern of the day being
Low Aik Jia's evidently poor stamina. Again full of running in the first twenty minutes, the newcomer wilted completely midway through the second half, and the only reason he was kept on must have been as a warning to pace himself in the future.
Lin An Chu had his work in the second team rewarded with a five minute run-out, as Dorogan called it a day after a steady if undistinguished shift.
