Four On The Town
Pascal Melks It
English fourth division hosts Oldtown United proved to be more than a match for their Grilled guests, as they recovered from a slow start to claim a thumping 4-1 win. Austrian centreback Pascal von Melk was the toast of the charming Brown Ale Stand crowd, as he gave weight to the old saying, that being there is all it takes.
It was a rough beginning for the Oldtown bunch, though, as a weaving
Iman Eshrafi went down all too easily, after getting himself sandwiched between two defenders. Not many thought it was a penalty, Eshrafi himself included, but Croatian referee Marko Fabulić had no doubts about it. The regulars made their displeasure known very loudly indeed, but
Ahmed Pećanić shut them out, and sent Callum Rodwell the wrong way expertly.
An excellent first step, but this would be more or less the high point of the Birds' day. Working with a makeshift midfield, they made little impression on the very experienced Ediberto Aramayo, whose floated balls wide right to Gianpiero Mussini defined the flow of the match.
José Luiz Velho tried hard, but the magic that he had wielded against EHL International was nowhere to be found.
Rashid bin Ahmad more or less held it together at the back, at least until a quick switch of play saw Maltese U-20 international Kevin Bajada skip through in the 28th minute. The early cross out to Arthur Allan would probably have succeeded, but Bajada would hold it too long. It didn't matter in the end, as he eventually hit a sidewinder that clipped
Dante Tran, and then went in off Pascal von Melk's shin.
The sandy-haired Pascal knew little about it, and apparently so did the match officials, with the goal originally credited to Tran. They had not yet made the correction when Grilled went off on a tangent of their own, with
Jérémy Tarin putting his accuracy to good use. His bet on
Prokop Mottl's change of direction paid off big time, and the Czech got a lob off before being closed down by Joe Harding. Sadly, it would be inches too high.
Oldtown would compose themselves before embarking on a solid push down the right side, and a Mussini cross was attacked magnificently by Arthur Allan in the 31st minute, his glancing header leaving
Krystian Rykowski rooted. The goalkeeper would fare much better as Oldtown sought to crush all resistance with their next assault, and turned Dean Arthur's finish aside, to visible dismay from the teenaged forward.
The hard-running Arthur would find Rykowski his nemesis again in the second half, as he drew several solid saves from the Pole. The kicker came after that in the 66th minute, as Arthur shook
Ang Leong Kum off his tail, before getting on the end of a cross with perfect timing. Rykowski would somehow meet it at the top corner, however, to Arthur's disbelief.
An equaliser didn't seem out of the question with Mottl sniffing about, but Oldtown would instead widen their lead. A daring raid would be stopped by Igor Kramer's decisive tackle on Pećanić, and there was no stopping Bajada returning it all the way down the same flank. Again, the delivery could have been better, but Mussini had set himself up for just that very eventuality, and mopped up intelligently at the back post.
There was a hint of offside about that one, but the referee wasn't interested, and the match went on.
Rashid bin Ahmad, who had seen his keeper beaten thrice without having done too much wrong, would however play no further part, as
Remco van der Ban took his place.
The Spaniard injected urgency, if not tactical awareness, and Grilled would ship a fourth goal after yet another promising buildup went awry. Oldtown took their time on this one, and had half a dozen men in the box when the ball finally went in. Arthur thought that he had finally gotten his due, with a powerful half-volley towards the open far side, only to watch as his shot came off Pascal, taking the diving Rykowski completely out of the picture.
It was a slightly awkward moment for Arthur, but he got over it quickly enough, to his credit. The Birds would chase a second goal, but without much luck, and
Ang Leong Kum didn't look unhappy to let
Kohei Okuya have a run-out as the game wound down.
