Libreríation Due
Reserves' Day Out
There were no next to no risks taken in this last friendly before Grilled's final league decider, with
Vikram Mudaliar being the only regular-teamer to take to the field alongside a host of reserves; the Number Nine fully lived up to his reputation against Belize III.8 hosts Librería Don Carlos, as it turned out, with him being clearly a cut above the rest throughout.
Eren Serpin was understandably loathe to risk any of his potential resources, what with a historic first S-League title at stake, and this left the field open for the Birds' many backups to earn their keep. It started with third-choice keeper
Louis Vara, and went on with the seldom-called upon
Leonard Nguyen,
Kohei Okuya and
Dante Tran all getting a run-out. There was some ribbing about septuagenarian
Tim Hobson getting pulled in, but from how
Tian Yonghang made the bench, the reality probably wasn't all that far off!
This selection actually made for a reasonable match against Librería, who were still finding their feet in their first season. While Danish head coach Rasmus Johannesen has made a fair number of signings, gelling them has proven to be a challenge, and they will be looking to put this campaign behind them, after a probable last-place finish. They did possess some exciting talents, such as Spanish trainee winger Juan Antonio Picardo, but remained very much a work in progress.
Yee Jian Hui was not shy about reminding them of this, as he made to test Matthias Satzenhofen with a rather impudent effort from outside the box, on the first opportunity. Then again, Yee had every right to do so, as the Birds were not wanting in their creation of more chances.
Vikram Mudaliar had a hand in many of those, as when he breezed through to drop a prospective assist to
Prokop Mottl in the 19th minute. That would be headed off, but no matter, as Mudaliar duly exploded past Kavous Ghanbarzadeh for a second time, to polish off the job by himself for 1-0.
There would be an impressive lob from
Kohei Okuya soon after that opener, that left Satzenhofen little room for error in the tipping over thereof. Yee was also determined to leave his mark, and would curl a respectable strike at goal, after good work by
Leonard Nguyen down the right side. That did lead to the home side's first serious attack of the day, but Vito Villalobos couldn't finish on the counter.
Librería would get it right on the second try, this after Kohei had nearly caught Satzenhofen out with a second, no less outrageous lob. Romanian teenager Cristi Mitache led the charge down Grilled's neglected left side, and although his squared ball went behind intended target Andrew Codrington, it fell nicely for Jack Span to sweep past
Louis Vara.
The second half of this game would get a lot more dull, with Serpin apparently having had a word with Mudaliar to pace himself too, and in any case going up against the wall of black-and-white strips that had formed, would have been a gruelling effort. Librería would moreover have cause to regret putting too much into it too, as Antoni Horwat's aggressive sliding tackle in the 73rd minute went very badly for veteran centreback Jean-Emmanuel Caulier, who had the same idea.
The game resumed with Holger Banemann in for Caulier, and soon swung Grilled's way, as
Dante Tran finally put his team ahead by busting a tremendous shot out. There would be a quick double-substitution at the end, with
Cyril Künzler and
Heng Dong Chu arriving - though they wouldn't so much as break into a trot, with what lay ahead.
