Wildwildcats Mauled
Leong At Last
The Birds got some respite from a bad September by polishing off Croatian Division Four club wildwildcats, even if it was little more than an exhibition game. It was Grilled's first return to the Eastern European nation since a 3-1 win some thirty-five seasons past, which they bettered with heavy input from an underperforming but still passably effective midfield.
wildwildcats had been making a name for themselves in the Virovitica region, and despite putting up a mostly-reserve XI, included big playmaker Karlo Mlinarek at the heart of their side. If Mlinarek drew obvious comparisons to
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim, who made a return to the friendly scene, the cats' mobile left flank of Toma Matanić and captain Patrik Rodhall was in stark contrast to
Gene Filippone's mentality on that side.
Fortunately for Filippone, the all-day shower limited Matanić's movement considerably, and after having taken an early beating, the Swiss defender turned right winger managed his direct opponent admirably. The rain also turned the football into a bit of a lottery, for which
Remco van der Ban drew the first winning ticket, as he sidled onto a forward pass prematurely stuck in the mud, to bang the first goal in after 23 minutes.
More of the same was to come, and Mohd Safri could have stolen another barely-deserved goal a scarce few minutes after that. Filippone, never an assured wide operator, received a fair dose of beginners' luck as his messed-up cross was blown back infield, after being on the verge of going out of bounds. Mohd Safri, making up in canniness what he had lost in energy, was ready and waiting, but Italian custodian Alan Breviglieri was no greenhorn either, and tipped the clipped header up and over.
The fates began to favour the hosts, who would have had a clear shot in the 30th minute, had Nedjeljko Vranješ thought to find Ðuro Stipčević, who had made himself available.
Rashid bin Ahmad closed up as quickly as he could, but for naught as
Low Aik Jia had cut Stipčević down in his own haste. The free-kick was squandered eventually, as was Grilled's own set-piece after Mlinarek got booked too for delaying the game.
wildwildcats were not to be denied, and their killer combination came to fruition in the 39th. An all-out rush down the left finally overwhelmed
Hilal Bakhtiar, who had been attempting to play high, and Rodhall had all the time in the world to seek out Mlinarek after overlapping on the outside. The big man was only too happy to oblige, and outmuscled the slimmer
Krystian Rykowski to nod home.
This fueled a vibrant restart for the cats, which came alongside the suddenly far brighter weather, with the clouds coincidentally clearing. The hosts pressed full steam ahead, with Vinko Magić forcing Rykowski into several close shaves. Despite his name, Magić relied more on brute strength than anything to create those chances, but as
Rashid bin Ahmad discovered, that's part of football too.
It would be
Rashid bin Ahmad to turn things around, of all people, once
Low Aik Jia began to stretch his legs on the drier grass. Dragutin Andrović found it a very bad matchup once Low could exhibit the extent of his considerable pace, and he had the entire left side at his mercy after breaking through in the 59th minute. The low cross was missed by the first wave to attack it, but Rashid arrived late and dutifully tucked it into the corner.
Low, whose frustration at being left out of the main team has made it into more than one local magazine, carried on with his reign down the left, and slowly bullied the opposing defenders into submission. Young Držislav Višković was left not knowing which way to turn as Low advanced on him, and this resulted in a two-on-one that saw
Hariharan Prabhu left to score the third from a sitter.
Five minutes later, Breviglieri would have to pick it out of his net again. The Italian goalkeeper had managed with superior positioning throughout the first half, but was found wanting once Grilled were able to manufacture direct shots.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim chested a hopeful lob to acting captain
Leong Wan Kang then, and while Breviglieri set himself professionally, Leong hit it straight, true, and hard.
Leong also found himself biting the dirt as he was felled by Vinko Magić after the ball left his feet, which necessitated a brief stoppage to rediscover his bearings. Croatian referee Mirko Grgurović had a long chat with the offender as Leong was recovering, and just when Magić thought that he had escaped, pulled up a yellow card with a smile.
Not that that had much of an impact on the outcome. Mohd Safri was replaced by
Domenik Bögengang as Leong recovered, and the final fifteen minutes were devoid of any action worth of note. The sides used injury time to expend their substitutes, and Karlo Mlinarek was content to walk down the final moments of the match.
