Hjart Done By
Three For Tarin
Grilled evidently enjoyed their trip to Iceland three weeks ago, given how they returned for a second go, if against a Hattrick International member club this time. Fáfnis Hjarta would fare no better than besta lið in the final accounting, and were not helped by only managing to muster nine men in their starting lineup, following some traffic issues.
The friendly would do ahead as scheduled, after referee Pere Negre sought input from both sides. It was never going to seriously test the visiting Birds given the circumstances, and the signs were indeed extremely unencouraging for the undermanned hosts, when Iranian forward
Iman Eshrafi sliced a grounder past Ingimar Aronsson - who had been pressed into service as Fáfnis's goalie for the day.
Whether due to Grilled not able to fully express themselves, given such a large and unearned advantage, or Fáfnis playing with their backs to the wall, the Birds were stymied for a good while after this. Captain Nökkvi Birkisson did wonders with what he had on hand, as he moulded the available players into a decent defensive unit, even as the pace of Pálmar Þórðarson kept
Jérémy Tarin and
Mohd Jafni Abdul Majid on their toes at the other end.
This fire was hard to maintain for long, however, and cracks soon appeared. The Birds' young attacking force appeared slightly short on coordination, though, being all too eager to secure personal glory. This tendency kept them from breaking through until seven minutes before half-time, when
Jérémy Tarin saw his uncontrolled free-kick fly right through a five-man wall, which Aronsson could hardly be faulted on.
While most of the players were pretty easygoing about it, Fáfnis head coach Patrik Koefoed remained unfailingly professional, judging from how he exhorted his men to do their duty. Then again, Fáfnis had largely been overcoming their two-man shortage handsomely, and Grilled's best opportunities would come when they could press their numerical advantages at set-pieces - as when
Mohd Jafni Abdul Majid's neat header off a corner was parried, only to be slammed into the net by
Chu Xin Lee in the 55th.
Grilled were gradually revving themselves up as Fáfnis faded, and the goals would start to flow in earnest. Their strikeforce was finally clicking, and
Kalki Parvathaneni demonstrated just how useful his elite acceleration over ten yards was, as he fed on Chu's sneaky little no-look pass to the inside. Soon after that, the Birds got an experience boost at the back, with
Rashid bin Ahmad entering for Mohd Jafni.
This would however lead to the hosts' first reply, which came through winger Gunnar Fylkisson; Þórðarson, who had been working his socks off, would get his payoff in the 76th minute when he pulled Tarin over, having shut Rashid out of the picture with a rapid cut to the left. This left a huge gap for Fylkisson to exploit, if Þórðarson could get the assist off - which he just about could.
Fáfnis would have little time to celebrate, as Tarin duly chipped it over Aronsson seconds from kick-off, after the stand-in goalkeeper had needlessly come out to challenge. The fans seemed to appreciate the skill behind the lob, which given the scoreline, they might as well.
Leong Wan Kang and
Kohei Okuya came on for the last ten minutes, and Leong immediately contributed with a ball-winning tackle on Hafliði Ingólfsson, that Chu mercilessly snapped up.
The home team still had fight in them, and one had to applaud their managing to pry another goal from the Birds, after eightly-four draining minutes. They would reveal themselves to be quite deadly from set-pieces too, and Þórðarson showed off his cultured right foot, curving a corner kick smack into the middle of the Grilled penalty area. Having decided to live on the wild side, Fáfnis had committed themselves heavily, leaving them very vulnerable on any counter... which never came, because Steinn Erlingsson elbowed
Mohammad Ramli Saliman out of the way to convert it nicely.
Grilled would then make it seven, after a stonewall penalty was awarded for Aronsson's wholesale wipeout of a clear and free
Kalki Parvathaneni. Going by the book, he could have been carded into the bargain, but the referee would show some justified leeway this time. Designated taker
Jérémy Tarin just so happened to be on his hat-trick, and he encountered little trouble in baiting Aronsson to dive the wrong way.
