Estrie Drop Axe
Lukov Magic
Quebec hosts SC Estrie gave Grilled's youngsters a lesson in effective shielding, as they left the Birds with few obvious openings, and even fewer looks at goal, in trundling to a one-nil win at the 32000-seater Stade du Parc Belvédère. If the stadium was charming, it was about the only comfort for Grilled's static 3-5-2, without going into how
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim's frightening deterioration boded badly for their goal potential in the upcoming campaign.
That said, there was an element of experimentation in the lineup, which had
Rashid bin Ahmad sweeping up behind the pair of
Yuki Irie and
Hoàng Trung Quá.
Mohammad Ramli Saliman was granted a free role in the middle, switching between third forward and deep-lying playmaker as he saw fit, but found fairly limited success either way.
If the Birds were to have taken this, they probably would have needed to go about it early on, before SC Estrie took their measure; they did, in fact, have the hosts backpedalling for the first ten minutes or so, during which
Ang Leong Kum dropped one in for
Yuta Nakakita to have a pop at, a few feet inside the penalty area. Yuta possessed good form in his swing, but dragged it slightly wide of Dale Wellington's unguarded right post.
This was about as close as Grilled would come for most of the match, as SC Estrie's backline figured their attacking patterns out. Mohd Safri in particular was sadly outmatched physically, with Dragutin Atelj more than nimble enough to shut him down. This left
Tian Yonghang as the Birds' sole realistic outlet, and although Saliman tried to pick up some of the slack, SC Estrie coped handily.
Relatively cautious for the first half-hour, SC Estrie began to strike out once they felt safe, and a repelled drive from
Neeraj Muthyala was converted into a swift raid down the middle.
Yuki Irie did well to throw Angel Lukov off, but he managed to pass it back for a second go, which late-arriving wingback Hermann Püttjer smashed precariously close.
This whetted Püttjer's taste, and he would get much more involved in SC Estrie's attacks. Seven minutes on, he burnt
Clark Won by abruptly darting inside, when he had made a point to hug the line in his advances before that. This was enough to throw Grilled's entire defence into disarray, and nobody was close to Melvin Valko when the cross found him at the far post. Luckily, Valko wasn't expecting it either, and struggled to bring it under control, before Hoàng dealt with him.
Grilled's disorganization at the back would finally haunt them three minute from half-time, if with a heavy dose of skill from Lukov. Having shaken free of
Rashid bin Ahmad with a sudden sprint to the outside, he collected the ball neatly and flicked it high at the top corner in almost the same motion.
Wong Tian Han did admirably to come close, but the chip was too well placed.
It was about what the home team deserved for their discipline, and Rashid would not have his chance to even the score, as Luis Alcántara would withdraw him during the break to let
Gene Filippone ease in. The Swiss centreback moved as if he had been working out responsibly during his layoff, and all in all didn't look like a player just coming back from serious injury.
This gave the Birds a temporary boost, but far from enough to make an impact on the increasingly-assured SC Estrie defensive line. Instead, Horace Palmer drew inspiration from Püttjer's sense of adventure, and Grilled were kept busy trying to protect their flanks most of the time.
The hosts were sure enough to take their captain and best man off with twenty-odd minutes remaining, with Flavio Lamfré replacing Lukov as target man. Then again, it was an exceptionally demanding position to fill, and a pair of fresh legs to pin Filippone and company back certainly did SC Estrie no harm.
Ang Leong Kum was Grilled's most involved player by this stage, and his grounder against the upright in the 69th was definitely the closest Grilled would come to equalising. That bright patch didn't last long, and Ang himself would be booked four minutes later, after instinctively sticking his leg out as Melvin Valko tried to sprint past him.
Alcántara's only remaining recourse was to throw
Low Aik Jia and
Leong Wan Kang on to try and salvage the friendly, but despite the duo actually getting SC Estrie's defence worked up, Low's sulkiness and Leong's lack of presence made the ultimate breakthrough unattainable.
