Could Be Better
Logically speaking, there surely wasn't much more that
Hovaness Noubaryan could have expected from the game, but the new head coach was determined not to sound soft in his first post-match press conference.
"The team merely did what was expected of them today." he began. "Yes, a fine win and a clean sheet, but there were also many attacks that should have been executed more clinically. Our first real test will be on Sunday."
Farmer Bunnies cleared the first hurdle too, but they were not particularly convincing against East Coast club Ho Seh Liao.
Abderahim Bentellis gave the Buns breathing room with an excellent counter in the 22nd, but it was dicey after that, with Yip Wei Kang possibly an extended foot away from equalising in the 31st minute.
The Buns were fortunate that Christobal Doetschel was in even worse form as Ho Seh Liao's target man, as
Jon Benson had a complete off-day. A better team could well have punished their passivity, but as it was,
Sofian Azfar scraped a second goal seven minutes from full-time, to calm their nerves.
Still, job accomplished for the Buns, who are now focused on their opener against Unium F.C. "It sounds strange that much of one's season can be determined on the first day, but that's how it is."
Sikong Darong noted. "Realistically, it'll be hard if we can't get at least a draw at Hell Vengeance."
Grilled International took time off the Global Cup, and hammered Lazio-based H.I. club i nani team 6-0 to start off their own cup campaign. There was some drama when goalkeeper
Saswata Shah was caught late on the knee by Claus Osterrieder, who was promptly sent off; International would shrug the mishap off, being three up by then, and finished the day with six different scorers.
It made for a welcome recovery from a brutal contest against Real Scannavacche in the Global Cup, which saw
Yao Erguo,
Romano Armellin and
Tommy Dongelmans all sent off for International, in their worst disciplinary record for a single game to date. It was something of a miracle that they only lost 2-3, with
Micky bin Kadir and Yao supplying a bright start.
Tajit bin Mohd was just looking forward to a repeat against Samotišky Saints. "Good win, we dominated completely today. It's hard on Saswata, but at least the doctor tells me that nothing got broken."
