Almost Down Under
Late Rally Saves Birds
Grilled Birds played their first post-Cup friendly of the season against Oceanian Fourth Division Rooboys of Victoria, Australia. Rooboys ceded the home side nearly all the possession, and
Chai Yew-Hoe had the first decent chance which he wasted by skewing his shot to the right. Hobson looked uncharacteristically sloppy as he was slow to react to a good
Ma Dai-Lin cross, and failed even to connect properly with the ball when on a better day he would have put it into the net easily. Rooboy's expartriate Shenzhen winger He Mei-jywan got himself sent off for a second inappropriate challenge, though Magunsson evened things a bit when he also received a caution. Frustration showed clearly on many of the Grilled players' faces as they failed to achieve a breakthrough despite overwhelming possession.
Out of the blue, Rooboys Juán Fatani broke the deadlock as he redirected Roger Olsson's corner past
Cheung Huel-sheng. This spurred Grilled, and the home side finally replied in kind through a mistake by Steve Talbot.
Ma Dai-Lin dispossessed him in the midst of some ball-watching and sent the ball past homegrown keeper Terrance Watkins. Talbot was again the catalyst for Grilled's second, as
Tim Hobson showed alertness to position himself well for Sole to feed him a crossfield square ball. He then cut to the inside of Talbot to beat Watkins in a one-on-one situation. Dewilde picked up a yellow in the final minute for going in hard on ageing Spanish striker Rafael Ares, before an often ill-tempered friendly ended.
