Ibex Manage
More Than Reddy
Grilled suffered their fifth loss in a row against Indian Third Division hosts Red Ibex, associate club of Switzerland's Red Camels, as local veteran forward Bhagyaraj Nagireddy lent credence to the old saw that scoring is as much a mind game as anything. The 33 year-old certainly didn't move many more muscles than necessary, and yet wound up with a hat-trick, including the 85th minute winner.
Successive friendly defeats had instilled a gnawing hunger in the reserve squad for concrete results, which came out strongly in their play - perhaps too strongly. Bosnian trainee
Ahmed Pećanić, starting on the right again, would fool no one at all with his awful dive against Arindam Shrivastava in the third minute, though he did have the grace to look slightly pensive, when the card came. Shrivastava saw the funny side, though, and appeared to whisper some pointers to his opponent afterwards.
The hosts were better adapted to the hot Punjab sun than the Birds' hodgepodge mix of nationalities, with Kirti Shekhawat putting youngsters half his age to shame with his workrate. Regularly ranging out of central defence, he would poke one just wide in the eleventh minute; six minutes later, he would be in the thick of the action again, and this time he engaged
Iman Eshrafi just enough, to gift Nagireddy a free header in.
Grilled refused to be affected, and their brash style would afford them an immediate opportunity to respond, as
Chu Xin Lee teased French midfielder David Brillant into draggin him down, some five metres outside the Ibex penalty area. These are the moments that
Jérémy Tarin lives for, and the Swiss would take an inordinately long time, just staring at the ball. It was all worth it in the end, as he swept a beaut clear over the jumping defensive wall, and dropped it perfectly into the far end of goal.
A period of Grilled dominance would follow, and they made in 2-1 in the 32nd minute, with
Islom Davlatov rediscovering some of the sheer audacity that had convinced
Djan Bacelar to take a punt on him. Confronting Ibex captain Vishnu Goli, he would not only streak past him, but further draw him to crash into teammate Marius Botorog. While Davlatov was himself off-balance and falling after that, he still managed to dig out a stunning strike that whizzed past goalie Viraj Kumar.
Davlatov sure looked pleased with himself at that, but Grilled's growing cockiness would be punished shortly. Some unwise baiting saw Chu getting picked off in his own half, and on the ensuing free-kick from the left wing,
Prokop Mottl was booked for repeatedly encroaching. To really rub it in, it was all for naught, as Nagireddy popped up on cue at the far post, to delicately put it in behind the overextending
Krystian Rykowski.
It was a downer for a Birds side that thought that they had finally hit upon a winning formula, but they did at least take it on the chin, from how they started the second half.
Chu Xin Lee, ignoring his occasional terrible giveaways, kept the midfield smoothly ticking over, and
José Luiz Velho settled gracefully into being a foil.
Grilled's 60th minute goal would come from a different direction, though, and it was the previously-quiet
Iman Eshrafi who conjured up the lead once more. The Iranian lad seemed to be going nowhere against Lhundup Assam, but a sudden pull backwards lost the tenacious winger. Next up was an inch-perfect forty-yard delivery to where
Prokop Mottl was heading, and it would almost have been a travesty, had Mottl spurned such an assist. He didn't.
Encouraged by the 3-2 scoreline, the young Birds team worked to further extend their lead, but it would be their undoing. Velho could be heard yelling at his teammates to fall back, but by the time Umesh Podar broke loose on the left, it was far too late. A well-practised give-and-go with Arindam Shrivastava coming up from behind him had
Ahmed Pećanić completely beaten, and Shrivastava then patiently waited for Nagireddy to lure Rykowski aside, before rolling the equaliser in.
That was quite the hammer blow to Grilled's confidence, and they never quite recaptured their earlier zest. Then again, their organization did improve measureably, and Ibex's attackers were being kept away pretty effectively.
Chu Xin Lee kept his enging purring, and there was some concern when he accidentally kneed Silvano Holzwarth 77 minutes in, going after the same ball. Thankfully, the young Swiss was just winded.
With ten minutes left, a competent but disinterested
Ang Leong Kum made way for
Mohd Jafni Abdul Majid, who would turn out to be the exact opposite. It would be kind of harsh to blame the newcomer for not yet having found his bearings, and
Jérémy Tarin bailed him out with a calculated foul. The inventive free-kick nearly found its way to Sundeep Iyengar, coming up around the back, but Rykowski was alert to that particular trick.
A draw seemed to be on the cards, when who else but Bhagyaraj Nagireddy would win it for Ibex, with a stooping header off Lhundup Assam's accurate cross.
Pompeo Bellamoli would be unleashed for Grilled with less than three minutes remaining, and perhaps unsurprisingly, came up empty.
