Roving Off Track
Xilhan Praised
The Birds found the going unexpectedly hard against the semi-professional East Coast Rovers side, as their beach-going opponents were in great shape and used that to their advantage, closing Grilled's players down very quickly.
That however couldn't make up for their glaring lack of basic skills, with most of the Rovers players listing beach volleyball as their preferred sport. Their tanned goalkeeper Xi Xilhan went back to those roots, as he executed at least three top-class digs against a frustrated
Miguel Reed.
Xilhan was at it again as he blocked Kek-Tjiang's seemingly unstoppable bullet header a minute into the second half, but let it fall right in front of him, where
Tom Pence was ready and waiting to prod it in.
Grilled gained even more of the ball in the second half, and
Tim Hobson could have struck a memorable goal in the 73rd minute after he beat all-comers down the left side, despite never being known to be especially good with his footwork. Xilhan swung a foot out but missed Hobson's grounder, which however clipped the post and rolled out for a goal kick.
The Birds could finally rest easy after Xilhan made a naive mistake late on, throwing the ball out to his defender without making sure that Wok-soon was ready to receive it. Machado was in in a flash, and ripped the ball into the top corner for an unassailable two-nothing lead.
