Penones Peg One
Krystian Carry
Grilled's reserve squad headed out for Qatar in the midst of their tournament exertions, and stumbled away with a narrow win over Division Two side Penones. The hosts were probably the more deserving, having edged the possession struggle and made a number of purposeful incursions, but Polish backup goalkeeper
Krystian Rykowski preserved it for the Birds.
Penones, who share personnel with both the Qatari national team and established Swiss club FC Muy Bien, home of international playmaker Mark Spohn, were in training mode too - local boy Jama Eshaq featured alongside Tanzanian trainee Christopher Kadika in midfield, with 34 year-old Australian Val Whakaari tasked with working his way back into form.
Whakaari's experience told from the get-go, as he anticipated the overzealous
Moey Xin Seng, flitting past the latter's attempted tackle to spread the Grilled defence with a diagonal ball to Mohammadi Al-Hajri. Out-and-out striker Herbert Wagner would find his match in
Rashid bin Ahmad, however, and Rykowski inserted himself between them to mop up the mess.
The home team continued dominating, to the frustration of Grilled's over-amped youngsters, and
Neeraj Muthyala found himself booked in the 14th minute for hacking at Kadika. They did eventually find an uneasy balance, and after a long stretch of mutual neutralization, a touch of genius from
Hariharan Prabhu had Waleed Al-Khalla sacrifice a yellow to hold him back.
This injected life back into the affair, as Penones counterattacked furiously after
Rinor Isufi's fine free-kick had been met by prospective future Qatari U-20 goalkeeper Naser Bin Khalifa Al-Mana. Rykowski was likewise not about to surrender his clean sheet that easily, though, and he again kept Wagner out with a reaction stop with his leg.
With the tension mounting, Grilled would finally break the deadlock in the 38th minute, as
Yuki Irie took it upon himself to probe the Penones backline. Rightback Waleed Al-Khalla had not been tested much after asserting himself early on, and he would be unprepared for Yuki's uncharacteristic darting around on the outside. The sudden cross found no takers, until
Ling Fuquan brought it down on the far side, and struck gold with his low-percentage drive back inside.
Penones were again fastest off the blocks for the second half,
Pompeo Bellamoli having barely oriented himself when he was mobbed off the ball. Once again, it was pacey winger Mohammadi Al-Hajri who set them off, though this time he elected to cut in past Rashid instead. His final touch failed him, however, as he clipped it over the crossbar.
Despite the home team applying themselves quite impressively, it would be the Birds who would extend their lead against the run of play.
Moey Xin Seng made himself useful by winning an indirect free-kick from placing his face in the way of former Qatari national defender Ramadan Sheeb's high foot in the 62nd, and regular nusiance
Remco van der Ban came up aces in a chaotic six-yard box.
The Spanish utility man probably deserved to score from his technically brilliant diving header four minutes later, but Naser Bin Khalifa Al-Mana was not about to let himself be beaten a third time, as he exhibited excellent footwork to cover the width of his goalmouth and reach the attempt.
The two most unrewarded players on the pitch would finally get their due with nine minutes remaining. Having shone in patches against
Yuki Irie, Mohammadi Al-Hajri would beat him comprehensively in a straight footrace, and advance on the Grilled goal before dealing it on to Herbert Wagner. The Austrian really could not miss from this distance, to the mollification of the some four thousand native supporters.
That was however as far as Penones got, with Benny Ngozi tripping up what could have been the game-tying strike in time added on, which left the Birds to get away with another friendly win.
