Sporting Bruises
Ten To The Good
Just a day before the completion of the stadium remodelling, the Birds bade the old Cooking Pot farewell with a 10-0 whitewash of Jordanian Division Two visitors Sportverein Innsbruck, whose reserves were some distance behind Grilled's collection of regulars.
The construction cranes had largely been cleared from behind the grandstand, and there was barely any tarpaulin left as workers hurried about removing the last traces of their labour. The only sign that the upgrade was not quite complete was the scaffolding about The Birds' Nest just beneath the roof, and the near five thousand who turned up were already enjoying the new seats.
Some of them had, in fact, not found theirs, when
Rashid bin Ahmad gave Grilled the lead.
Qassem Madaini's variation from a free-kick went directly to his defensive partner, who made it 1-0 in his accustomed no-nonsense style.
Sportverein then hunkered down into a delaying game, ably led by coach-to-be Livio Di Lauro, but could not muster enough venom in attack to extricate themselves. Eventually,
Djan Bacelar would get through after half an hour of waiting, and repeat the feat in an eye-blink as Ommar Hamdan El-Shareef found himself stranded.
Madaini has not been scoring many, and one can understand the 36 year-old reacting more strongly than usual, when his free-kick curler found the back of the net. However, while
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim may have quite a number more seasons left in him, he likewise enjoyed his own successful strike after that very openly indeed.
Goalie Kamil Hamdan was not very amused, and even less so when
Pompeo Bellamoli clattered into him running backwards while tracking the ball. A confrontation was on the cards, when referee Marco Parsi brought out his book to defuse it.
Although some fans have come out against
Low Aik Jia being left out in recent league matches, this display perhaps revealed some of the coaches' thought processes - Low was noticeably lagging as the first half ended, as it became clear that his undisciplined running was tiring him out. He began the second half on the wing, but never quite regained his potency under the sweltering sun.
Leong Wan Kang resumed the scoring as he shrugged off an illegal jersey tug from Yasir Zamel in the 55th minute, before Bellamoli beat his man with a sublime piece of dribbling to feed
Tian Yonghang for 7-0. Grilled's reserve forwards then combined from a corner, as Leong's initial header was dropped by Hamdan, allowing Bellamoli to pounce.
Grilled were really turning the screws here, and
Chow Ying Lee showed no mercy as he nearly trampled Hamdan in getting the ninth goal. As it was, Sportverein's goalkeeper had received a hefty hit to the ribs, but played on to the appreciation of the spectators.
Though Low had a header come off the angle between bar and post, the score still went into double digits when Madaini was again spot-on from a set piece. Low then gave young Norwegian forward Aleksander Finsrud an introduction to the rough-and-tumble of professional football, catching him late with a tackle.
Finsrud was replaced by Ziyad Shqair, while
Gleb Dorogan and
Sandy Fu spent a couple of minutes as late subs.
