Left Gagging
Rebas Raids
For all of
Djan Bacelar's positivity after the league defeat, there was no sign of any upturn when Grilled met Ugandan Super League club El GaGiGa d'Africa, who wiped the Birds 5-1 all too adroitly. Estonian livewire winger Andres Rebas had them ahead after just three minutes, and the Birds never quite recovered.
Unlike Grilled, GaGiGa had had few problems finding the back of the net, having just hit three in against kraantjes. The match did rob them of former Greek youth international Yiorgos Yianellos against the Birds, but this turned out a non-issue, with Slovakian Number Ten Kevin Leskó in exceptional form.
This was apparent before long, as his drifting to the right put heavy pressure on a tired-looking
Gene Filippone. Grilled had barely recognized the asymmetric lineup, when Filippone was caught in a two-on-one situation as Rebas ran straight at him. He was unable to cope, and sadly
Wong Tian Han did not cover himself in glory either, as he flubbed a possible save.
The African side proceeded to clam up for some time, with Dragan Kruščić making sure that their four-man backline remained watertight. Despite a continuing lack of imagination from his colleagues,
Tian Yonghang nearly got through on the half hour, only for Portuguese wingback Maurício Duarte to catch up with him right before he could shoot.
Grilled's own defence could not be compared to GaGiGa's, and
Ling Fuquan was fortunate to escape being sent off, when he quite blatantly pulled Leskó back as the last man. The opponents took their time over the free-kick, but were fully compensated as nobody bothered to pick up Rebas getting a headstart down the right. Wong tried to close him down, but Rebas nicked it into the far corner for his, and GaGiGa's, second.
The garishly-clad GaGiGa would quickly add a third, with Leskó cutting inside a now-wary Ling two minutes later. Grilled would finally get a clear sight of goal right before half-time, but Polish goalie Igor Ziemilec showed great industry in recovering rapidly to clear
Zhu Changchun's stealth header off the line.
The Birds' brightest stretch came right after the break, where they almost looked as if they could overturn the three-goal lead, for a short while. Unfortunately, GaGiGa's defence ended up impregnable, with Tian's blistering effort bravely blocked by Evgeni Lukov, before Ziemilec tipped a
Wong Ping Shun free kick that looked a similarly sure bet aside.
Still, it raised hopes for the last forty minutes... but only for GaGiGa to crush those thoughts mercilessly. Filippone had never looked comfortable against Rebas, and although he managed to keep Rebas from a hat-trick in a 62nd minute, he then threw all the good work away by trying to give it back to his keeper, without noticing that Vendelín Dolejš had inserted himself in between.
Ziemilec seemed adamant in preserving his clean sheet as he denied
Chow Ying Lee's volley too, before Cristòfol Muntané really twisted the dagger in with his timely sprint down the left in the 76th minute.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim could barely hide his disgust at this turn of events, and
Rinor Isufi was caught being completely disinterested on the bench, being engrossed in a handheld game.
Grilled did spoil Ziemilec's day in the end, though, as
Chow Ying Lee's patented dash from the blue caught the GaGiGa backline flatfooted, and
Tian Yonghang was sufficiently in tune to provide the final touch. As gestures go, however, it was little more than a slight show of defiance.
