Pata Play Part
Bellamoli Booted
Visiting Portuguese Division Three club Os Pata ao Léu were out to entertain with an experimental counterattacking strategy, as much as they could in the terrible conditions brought on by a long-lasting thunderstorm. 30 year-old Brazilian striker Mané Carrasco was Grilled's biggest worry in this exercise ahead of Sunday's big playoff game, but fortune was not on his side as the Birds managed a workmanlike 3-0 victory.
Having opted to stay home due to the upcoming big match, Grilled clearly hadn't counted on the weather not cooperating, and were evidently seriously considering calling off, or at least postponing, the friendly, lest their key players catch something.
Rinor Isufi for one was eager to get going, though, and after some deliberation it was decided to proceed to kick-off.
Still, it was doubtful how slipping about on the wet grass would help in Grilled's preparations, as was seen when
Pompeo Bellamoli dug out an early cross that Pata's Spanish custodian Alberto Barrutieta let slip through his gloves. The comedy wasn't over as
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim fell flat on his face trying to propel himself forward, and the visitors' Bruno Carvalho Morais duly lumped it into touch.
After sixteen minutes, the referee was uncertain when
Tian Yonghang fell inside the penalty area trying to go around Alberto Barrutieta, but eventually put it down to the slippery grass. The audience had more or less resigned themselves to seventy more minutes of this going over, when Mohd Safri suddenly delivered a world-class volley to open the scoring, continuing his hot streak.
It was straight back to the tripping bit, however, as Bellamoli couldn't stop himself after he had committed to a sliding tackle on Wolff von Sachsen, who took the full brunt of the Italian's force on his standing leg. With Wolff clearly crocked, Salvador Maria Fernandes Figueiredo came on for him as Bellamoli was booked. The free-kick went badly astray, though, and the Birds wound up benefitting with
Leong Wan Kang slamming it past Barrutieta after guessing the bounce right.
Bellamoli couldn't catch a break, as he was caught kicking the ball away unintentionally by the referee, whose mood was probably not helped by the drenching he was getting. It was not that going down to ten men appeared to affect the balance much, even if substitute Figueiredo then got Pata's first notable effort slightly wide.
Grilled swapped
Zhao Jing Wei in for
Chow Ying Lee for the second half, a safe move given that Pata's formation had not threatened Grilled's possession game appreciably. That said, the visitors were getting closer, but they were denied by the ground, as Joaquim Urbano de Oliveira lost his footing in gearing up for his strike. He could only bemoan his bad luck seated in the mud, to some sympathy from
Rashid bin Ahmad.
Pata let Colombian Arturo Laserna replace Barrutieta in goal after the hour mark, which however would effectively go unnoticed for some time as the sides struggled to maintain control of the ball. Despite the treacherous conditions, quality would assert itself in spurts, and another of Mohd Safri's graceful volleys was followed by a free-flowing run from Carrasco. Rashid however slowed it down just enough for
Krystian Rykowski to cover his shooting angles.
The match had by now slowed almost to a crawl, which suited
Tian Yonghang just fine, as he made it 3-0, before Laserna tipped what could have been a fourth aside. Zhao then got booked for a snide little tap on Vítor Graça's knee, which about summed up the whole slog.