Top Of Ivory Castle
Aw At It
Grilled's best may be leaving the club one by one, but that which remained was not to be trifled with, as they battered Angolan II.1 side Ivory Castle on their own ground. Lithuanian star Adarijus Rozalis, a reference to the origins of their management, would feature in their midfield, though Gerimantas Gukevičius sat this one out. On Grilled's end, it would be
Chan Ze Han and
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud overpowering on the left, forcing Cyprus winger Spiros Vdelas into an unaccustomed defensive posture.
For once, the Birds were taking a 3-5-2 against an opposition 2-5-3, and the man-to-man matching up made for many direct duels. Local defender João Joaquim Ferreira Tavares probably got the worst of it, alas, as he would face up against an uncompromising Chan. Friendly or not, the Grilled skipper's competitive spirit burnt as bright as ever, and sixteen minutes had barely passed when he won a free-kick just outside the box. Chan went on to take it himself too, and wound it past goalkeeper Inácio Mendes Almeida.
Well, there was really not too much to be said about this contest in footballing terms, with the hosts being terribly disjointed at times. Italian head coach Leone Guala had evidently not drilled them too harshly, from how the various departments were sometimes at odds with each other. Grilled were not overly better off, and much would be left to Chan and Abd Hadi's individual brilliance, with their newly-assembled midfield teetering at the edge of functionality. Nothing Abd Hadi couldn't overcome, though, as he made good use of
Chia Kwang Tse in penetrating the Castle backline, to score the second goal in the 39th minute.
Two more would follow before half-time, with
José Luiz Velho first outjumping Gilberto Antunes to a header, as Abd Hadi turned provider from the left.
Chan Ze Han would not be left out, or take pity as the Castle defence continued to crumble; Tavares tried asking referee Aage Pallesen to bail them out with an offside call, but had misjudged the situation with Chan hanging back before being sure that
Lim An Keng was going to try the through ball. It wasn't the best, but good enough, and Lim would brighten up as never before in rushing to celebrate with his hero.
Cameron Law, back in his main role of goalkeeper for once, would leave with the clean sheet as
Mohsen El Khateeb replaced him in the second half, as a technically-unregistered player. This would be attributed to Law having sustained a minor knock, and with Mohsen included in the squad due to the large number of recent transfers out, the 18 year-old would get the appearance he had always dreamed of.
It would not be a great one, but that was perhaps too much to hope for. It continued to be a rocky showing from Grilled's fresh-faced midfielders, with
Lau Chu Soon faring surprisingly well against Rozalis' attempted forays, but with Chia generally outclassed - leading to his carding for dissent in the 64th minute. Chia's day only got worse as he pulled his thigh trying to chase Cosme Martins Lima down, and from the resulting free-kick, Gilberto Antunes needed only to get it on target, to reduce to 1-4.
Almeida's good goaltending continued as he then cordoned Abd Hadi off from Grilled's attempted reply, having already blocked a stinger by
Aw Keng Chuan about ten minutes ago. Abd Hadi's missed chance would ring in a double substitution from
Tian Yonghang, with
Gilbert Webb and
Radovan Jaška parading their stuff. Webb would sadly show his age as he got the run-around by Rozalis despite his fresh legs, and Mohsen would again prove useless against a competent finish.
That was not all, however, not if Aw had anything to say about it. Largely faultness in his one-on-one, he would allow himself to roam forward with five minutes remaining, and saw an almost-whimsical blast from nearly twenty yards, make it over the goalline.
