Volatile Victory
Leong Leads
Thirty-two seasons since Grilled last played a team from Slovenia, they invited Maribor's Voličina1979 today, and toiled to an exhausting 4-3 result. Much of it would have to be attributed to reserve forward
Leong Wan Kang, who took his late league appearance against Young Tigers as encouragement, and responded with a top-drawer hat-trick.
The match began in a slightly unexpected manner, as visiting coach Nicolai Nedergaard signalled furiously for a substitution right after kick-off. His target was Stefan Ðoković, who was replaced by first-team winger Joni Vuorela, with the confusion apparently due to an old version of the teamsheet being submitted.
Those preliminaries over, the game got going in earnest, and Leong sounded the horn after just four minutes. Lining alongside close friend
Pompeo Bellamoli for the first time in a long while, their understanding bore early fruit, and a well-disguised dummy saw Leong with time to line up a hammerblow into the top corner.
The visitors showed their own teeth in good time, as a concerted push down the middle forced
Tian Yonghang to impede Voličina1979 skipper Erik Vočanec. Finnish defender Jimi Holm has made a name for himself for his free-kick prowess, and he reminded all present of how he built that name, squeezing a curler around the defensive screen to level things in the next minute.
While officially a friendly, Voličina1979 were hardly here to make up the numbers, and didn't hold back in their challenges. Pero Spasojevič was carded after a particularly bruising slide in on Mohd Safri, and after Vočanec threatened to get out of control, Nedergaard hastily replaced him with the more placid Anel Perše.
Chow Ying Lee put Grilled in front for the second time in the 37th minute as he eased between the central defenders, maintaining a fine streak, but again the visitors fought back, this time through Simon Volavec's header from a corner.
Leong secured the half-time advantage for his team with some excellent dribbling to find space for himself, but it would be Noa Radica who would have the last word, as he chopped down a by-now rather irate Mohd Safri. It was all their teammates could do to separate the pair, and referee Wilfred Hazewinkel was simply relieved to be able to blow the whistle for the break.
Holm nearly equalised in the 49th minute with another brilliant free-kick, but while Noubaryan was again outwitted, the ball drifted wide on this occasion. It was left to Leong to shine, and the 21 year-old obligingly timed a perfect run to spring Voličina1979's offside trap, and round Steve Fraboulet into the bargain.
Having acquitted themselves splendidly, neither Leong nor Bellamoli were too disappointed to be substituted late on, as Bacelar and
Sandy Fu came in for a few minutes.
There would be late drama, though, as Radica bumped into Mohd Safri, perhaps unintentionally. That sparked off a more serious second confrontation, though, and after the opposition player threatened to escalate the conflict by booting the ball into the stands, Hazewinkel took the opportunity to settle the issue with a second yellow.
Voličina1979 would however manage a third and final goal in the last minute, after
Walter Ross flirted with a booking of his own by blatantly holding Volavec back by his shorts in the six-yard box. They were satisfied with the penalty, though, which Holm would polish off very coolly indeed.
