Tamales Thumped
Attimarad Excels
3607 spectators, a large crowd for a friendly, turned out to watch Grilled Birds do battle with a team from across the Causeway, Tamales FC of Selangor, Malaysia. Grilled chose to field
Svarpati Attimarad upfront alongside
Tim Hobson, perhaps to give hothead
Chen Chiew-Yen a chance to cool off after his violent showing against Scorps in the last league match.
Lan Tuan-Mu returned to marshal the Grilled backline after a long layoff, which in his absence had not always been impressive under Dewilde. Though the Belgian was absent, Swedes Tellskär and Magnusson were played along with Englishman Hobson. Tamales displayed a wholly native team, in contrast.
As with most cross-border matches, passion was evident on the faces of the fans, not least the small travelling contigent who added tremendously to the atmosphere with the frantic chanting. They quietened in the fourteenth minute however as Attimarad celebrated his unlikely start with an early goal. Hobson stumbled when presented with a glaring chance after Hu Ho-ruden tripped over the ball in his haste.
Chai Yew-Hoe didn't miss his later, tapping Seng-kar's lob into the bottom corner with a downwards header. Attimarad showed industry as the defenders marked Hobson almost out of the game due to his new-gained reputation, and was close to taking the third goal when he got clear to meet The-Hao head on. The-Hao was quick off his line and smothered the ball, unfortunately for him.
Straight from the second half whistle,
Ding Sun-Nee left his defensive duties behind to advance on a stylish backpass from Tellskär and score with a bullet shot. Tellskär himself tried Shen unsuccessfully from outside the area, before Magunsson slid one across to Attimarad, who looked sharper by the minute as he ducked under Sze-Min for his second and Grilled's fourth. His hat-trick was complete when he accelerated past shadow Yuan-Pin and unleashed an early rocket. He was to collect a fourth, presented to him on a platter by Hobson who squeezed the ball to him just three metres from the goal, a position impossible to miss from. The night would not be complete without a Hobson cameo, and it came at the end when he indulged the home fans with a spot of twisting and turning away from the fullbacks to stroke it almost nonchalently past The-Hao to end the encounter.
