EHL Dispatched
Velho Rises
Grilled's 3-1 home friendly win against London's EHL International owed plenty to Brazilian apprentice
José Luiz Velho, who, entrusted with the armband, laid the foundations with his intimidating presence. Though
Chu Xin Lee provided the organization, it was evidently Velho's dynamism that warned off the opposition midfield.
EHL went with a caution 4-5-1, given their own very young squad, and they had main goalkeeper Richey Robertson honing his defensive awareness by cross-training as a sweeper. It was definitely not a gimme, what with the fledging Birds throwing themselves at the ball without fear.
While traditional theory has been that it is easier to get a basic defence together, as compared to an attacking unit, it appears that EHL had not gotten to that stage yet. Their positioning left much to be desired as Velho advanced in the 13th minute, probably having taken their zonal-marking drills too inflexibly. Erwan Couderc belatedly went for the man, but far too late, as Velho buried it past Terence Paxwell.
And he nearly repeated it the very next minute too, with the EHL players caught trying to digest Henry Scadden's shouted instructions from the sidelines. No-one thought Chu was his responsibility, as he cut a swathe right to the edge of the penalty area, and it was only some top-class shotstopping from Paxwell that kept Velho from a second.
That only served as an encouragement to the sprightly Brazilian, and he would return Chu's favour in short order. Surrounded by a bevy of determined defenders, Velho retined the presence of mind to look for help, and made a show of spotting
Dante Tran calling for it out wide. No-one quite expected the backheel in the other direction, and the crowd certainly liked this flashy assist for Chu's goal.
There was a bit of unavoidable dip after that, as Grilled slackened to a more reasonable pace. Half-time came and went with EHL's veteran striker Wilf Christopher having nary had a sniff, but he would come into the game a little more, as
Rashid bin Ahmad got replaced by a noticeably-disinterested
Ang Leong Kum in defence.
Christopher's moment would arrive in the 62nd minute, as the Birds were outflanked by Sean Williams on the right, with
Christian Mier finding himself isolated. The cross was true, and The Cooking Pot then witnessed the very picture of a classic English centre-forward's header, that left the impression of possibly taking
Dan Seng's hand off. 2-1.
EHL's kids were overjoyed at that, but it remained that it had been their only clear chance of the game. They did improve in their marking in the meantime, at least, and
Prokop Mottl - usually Grilled's most-advanced man - would find himself swarmed each time he approached.
Another change was in store as
Jérémy Tarin left for
Mohd Jafni Abdul Majid, who appears to have worked himself back into the coaches' favour. It was Velho who drew the most attention by far on the day, that said, and he sent
Iman Eshrafi completely clear with a beautifully-weighted pass. A shame about the finish, however.
EHL probably harboured hopes of stealing a draw, as they rather transparently set themselves up for a crushing counterattack; they likely waited too long for the perfect setup, though, and had to suffer an
Ahmed Pećanić free-kick coming off the woodwork, to be hastily batted away by Paxwell. The ball fell in an awkward spot between two EHL defenders, and
Christian Mier raced onto it, and then past the recovering goalie.
Match settled,
Leong Wan Kang would trot on for
Christopher Mauget as injury time loomed. He would try his luck with a shot from distance at the first opportunity, which floated some good distance high and wide.
