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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 64 | L | 1 - 2 | Tournament (Group Phase) | | Season 59 | W | 5 - 0 | Tournament (Group Phase) | | Season 57 | W | 4 - 0 | Friendly |
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Bunnies Hide Strength
No Conclusions Drawn
If supporters from both clubs were expecting something special - or, at a minimum, something passable - from Grilled Birds and Farmer Bunnies in their first sanctioned friendly in twelve seasons, and their first-ever at Carrot Field, they would be sorely, cruelly mistaken. One team had attached far more importance to the contest, and it wasn't the hosts.
Popular thinking was that the Buns had the clear upper hand in a full-strength encounter, what with their iron defence working against Grilled's current inadequacies; this was further supported by the Farmer Bunnies managing to seriously challenge for a Division Two title, in contrast to the Birds' struggle for survival. That hypothesis was not to be put to the test, however, and groans could be heard as the Buns' final lineup was announced.
It would be their training 5-4-1 formation with their forwards masquerading as defenders, and the tone of the day was set on Grilled's very first attack, which required
Rashid Nasir al Din to contort himself to keep
Islom Davlatov from scoring. Davlatov was evidently unamused by the Buns' configuration, and after a largely one-sided beatdown of his reluctant markers, he would get the scoring going in the 18th minute with a deliberately-placed grounder.
Three more goals would follow in the next four minutes, as the Bunnies gave up any pretense at being a functional football side. Davlatov nearly got an instant second as he whiffed at a corner, but his incomplete connection would up serving it to
Kalki Parvathaneni on a plate.
Chu Xin Lee instead would be the one to grab two in as many minutes, as Rashid found himself unable to get to Chu's cultured diagonal shots.
Davlatov's nasty face that bubbled forth, as he went full force into Bunnies skipper
Vishnu Tallapaka, despite having no real chance at reaching the ball that Tallapaka was shielding. It could have gotten ugly had more level-headed teammates not separated the two immediately, and referee Daniel Baciu felt the assault sufficiently unprovoked to unambiguously inform Davlatov that he was just
that far from an instant red.
Grilled got the quick start in the second half that they had missed in the first, with the Buns evidently still not willing to take things seriously. There wasn't much in the way of resistance once
Bilal Mohammad Harun nicked a vacillating
Miran Raulj, and
Vikram Mudaliar all but invited the through pass for a straightforward finish. 5-0.
Not everyone was all that easy-going on the Buns end, and
Daniel Nguyen for one could take his duties very earnestly indeed. A striker miscast, he probably couldn't have been expected to do much against someone the quality of Davlatov, but he did his level best whenever their paths crossed. Nguyen would be booked for all but wrestling Davlatov down in the 53rd, but strangely the Grilled man seemed to like Nguyen's efforts.
Davlatov was eager to keep his name in the commentary, and his persistence would be rewarded by a second goal, coming after 72 minutes. There was little in the way of disguise for this one, with Davlatov having quite obviously looked up to consider a shot several times into his dribble. When the expected strike finally came, however, it was way too powerful for Rashid to block.
Jérémy Tarin had a pop too before being replaced by
Rashid bin Ahmad, ten minutes from time.
Llamil Vener,
Milán Bolgár and
Chirag Thevar joined the procession in the final few minutes, but Baciu had no intention of dragging this one out anyway, and blew for time on the dot. The fans were agreeable, and not for a good reason.
