Breg 1 - 5 Grilled Birds
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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 56 | W | 3 - 2 | Tournament (Group Phase) |
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Checkmate
Season Settled
Grilled wrapped up this memorable campaign very fittingly, as they swept Slovenian Division Two winners Breg aside 5-1 to take the Rook&Bishop tournament trophy. Breg, who were kitted out in their home navy colours, changed tack to a counterattacking setup, but the Birds clicked, and the rest was history.
Having just been denied promotion to the Prva slovenska liga by NK 24. Julija, Breg's only remaining prize was this, and their Spanish head coach César Pocha spared no effort in retooling his side with Grilled in mind. Former national striker Mihael Starčič, who gave the Birds so much trouble, was of course in, but fellow scorer Simon Kozelj was sensationally omitted to admit a wing-heavy gameplan.
Grilled on the other hand made no adjustments, and their approach was vindicated as they dictated the flow from the start. Breg's Swiss captain Micha Delamuraz had leadership in spades, but his fellow defenders found it hard to find their positions without enough preparation, which
Ling Fuquan banked on when he surged through in the 12th minute. Up to three men could have slowed him, but their indecision meant Ling had enough time to place his chip.
Breg had been rather more dangerous in their usual 3-5-2, and it was a little disheartening to watch Starčič pacing about aimlessly. He was seen throwing his arms up after Caspar Loebbeke caught
Chow Ying Lee late just outside the penalty area in the 20th minute, the free-kick from which
Wong Ping Shun fired through a gap in the wall to leave Ali Hacil high and dry.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim was sensing blood, but his touch deserted him at a critical juncture a few minutes later. A helpful ball boy allowed Hacil to take the goal-kick almost before Mohd Safri's strike ran out of bounds, and Starčič knocked the long goal-kick on to Andrej Sinigoj, but the midfielder's follow-on header was halted by the bar.
The Birds weaved several more openings together before half-time, adding to their lead in the 38th minute through a standard
Chow Ying Lee solo sprint, which left the Breg supporters in the stadium looking glumly at the clock.
Actually, Breg were impressive tearing down the flanks whenever they had possession, but this simply did not happen often enough to matter. They did claw one back about twenty minutes into the second half when the ever-alert Starčič backheeled it past
Gene Filippone and into empty space for Caspar Loebbeke to run onto, but there were few signs that more was on the way.
Indeed, it was Grilled who controlled more and more of the game, and
Lee Lee Hao's introduction in the 80th minute saw their midfield suddenly afflicted with a lust for goals -
Zhu Changchun cut sharply by Vyacheslav Shebalov the very next minute to pillage a fourth, while
Zhao Jing Wei nearly put a diving header away as the Birds burst forward from the restart.
Breg did try to stage a final rally, only for
Wong Tian Han to tip Evdokim Polevtsov's free-kick aside after being called into action for the first time in a while, and
Wong Ping Shun took it right to the other touchline before squaring it for skipper
Tian Yonghang to bring the tournament, and Grilled's season, to a fitting conclusion.
