Poiske Pack Punch
Isiani Infectious
Northern Irish Division Two leaders Dream Team Poiske ran all over the Birds' reserves in today's friendly, mostly by simply outdoing them in the basics. With star Austrian playmaker Edmund Hofer alongside him, Georgian captain Jaba Isiani had no trouble in slicing Grilled's young trainees apart - and that was before considering Gorm Mosnes into the mix.
An offshoot of prominent Belgian club Team Poiske, Dream Team Poiske shot almost straight to the Northern Irish Premier upon their formation, and are just coming off two admittedly uphill seasons in the top flight. A return appears imminent, however, with Hofer not even making their league lineups thanks to Gonzalo Burón's wonderful form.
Be as it may, he remained far more than a match for Grilled's fledglings, and it didn't take long for that to become evident.
Moey Xin Seng was the only one who looked remotely competitive as the Poiske midfield three enacted their pass-and-move, and it took a lot from
Rashid bin Ahmad for Grilled to survive the first ten minutes.
And then, a huge surprise. After Edmund Hofer contorted himself in trying to grab the opener off an improvised free-kick,
Valentin Batâr released a long throw for
Mohammad Ramli Saliman on the right, who first-timed it invitingly for
Rinor Isufi. His confidence by now fully restored, the former Albanian U-20 international ran it past Ian Stanwick with a spurt of pace.
That hardly lasted as Isiani equalised in the very next minute, albeit aided by a bizarre huge bounce off
Remco van der Ban, and then the turf. Batâr could have done absolutely nothing about that one... and neither could the rest of the team, for what followed.
Moey and company had apparently forgotten how to keep their shape as they aggressively went in search of the lead, and their defence was completely sold out, when a dribbling Remco was mugged out wide. Tesse Pasveer looked about and saw a whole bunch of options, and settled on Kel Grimson, who only had to apply a final touch.
They somehow got to half-time only three down, after Gorm Mosnes and Şeyhmuz Akça polished off two close-in efforts - and, had Isufi gotten a better handle on John Downton's awkward back-header, it might even have been 4-2.
It remained crystal clear that Grilled were not in it, though, and a fifth came from Ferdy Francken in the 56th minute, after
Hilal Bakhtiar had been pressured into a blind pass in
Rashid bin Ahmad's general direction. Rashid didn't even look too disappointed, considering the game was long gone.
Low Aik Jia and
Pompeo Bellamoli entered for
Rinor Isufi and
Leong Wan Kang a while later, and if the new-look attack didn't get many looks at Poiske's goal, they were at least somewhat more industrious in defending from the front, with Low in particular apparently eager to prove a point.
Clark Won could even have reduced the deficit in the 72nd minute, when Bellamoli drifted outside Mieczysław Przybyłowicz cleverly before reversing play back in, but he wound up boxed out by the patrolling Gorm Mosnes.
