Grilled Birds 3 - 2
Breg 
Bregging Rights
Gene Gets Them
The Birds continued getting the rub of the green in knockout competition, as they edged past Slovenian II.3 leaders Breg by the odd goal in the Rook&Bishop tournament. While nothing can be decided after a single round, the three points will surely aid Grilled greatly in their quest to progress.
The rising Breg have advanced steadily from the sixth to secondth division in the preceding seasons, mostly under the guidance of cult hero Mihael Starčič, a picture-perfect centre-forward who has represented his country at all levels.
The Number Ten was without question Breg's most dangerous man, but that knowledge turned out to be no defense against his sheer will in the second minute. The wings were one of Breg's main strengths, and after Teemu Venemies skipped by
Wong Ping Shun on the left and pumped it in, not even
Wong Tian Han's advantage of being able to use his arms was enough to stop Starčič from reaching the ball first.
The Breg fans were ecstatic at that, but as fate would have it, Grilled had their own equivalent just waiting for his turn. This came in the eleventh minute, as Wong bent in an exquisite corner that
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim slammed his head into with no less determination; Breg goalie János Sándor could only turn his head and watch it flash by him.
Having nine tournament trophies under their belt, Breg were not about to let that get them down, and they turned the remainder of the half into an entertaining if scoreless epic. This was not for want of trying, as Starčič always looked capable of doing it whenever he gained possession, but the well-rested
Zhu Changchun made it his personal duty to shut him down.
It had quietened down considerably over the break, but Wong then took Grilled into the lead, mostly out of nowhere. He had been beaten several times by Venemies in the air prior to this, but once he got
Lee Lee Hao's spread pass on his chest, it was enough for his to burst past Breg skipper Micha Delamuraz and thump it soundly into the net.
The Birds' fans had barely begun cheering, though, when Breg came level - nippy Russian right winger Evdokim Polevtsov had been neck-to-neck with
Clément Meyer on the other flank, but Low had wandered off on the kick-off, leaving Polevtsov to get all the way down to the goalline and lift it for Simon Kozelj to crash home.
They then took the opportunity to replace the ineffective Darko Klun with Matteo Dimai, while playing more direct balls for this extremely imposing frontline.
Djan Bacelar studied his options, and eventually decided to throw on
Low Aik Jia to freshen things up.
Low lived up to expectations, and soon troubled Polevtsov to the extent that he had to resort to repeated fouling. There are few things quicker than a newly-appeared Low on a football pitch, as Breg learned to their dismay in the 81st minute when he cut inside and fed
Gene Filippone in a promising position. Filippone muddled through, and his shot selection wasn't too bad either.
This turned out to be sufficient to pick up the win, and Filippone exited to a rapturous reception from the stands as
Joan Cisquell arrived to see out the game.
