Cobras Strike
Tkačík Venom
It might be a tumultuous time in Sri Lanka currently, but that did not prevent III.9 visitors Sigiriya Cobra Hood from taming the Birds 5-0 at The Cooking Pot, in today's friendly. Conditions were as good as they could have been, with Hungarian midfielder László Kolcsár and Italian forward Livio Addeo maintaining very high levels through the ninety minutes. It would be Czech striker Vladislav Tkačík to claim the limelight, however, as he scored twice within the first fifteen minutes, to put the visitors firmly on a winning track.
The Cobras had yet to taste league success, with a host of mid-table finishes, with their management sometimes accused of being more interested in expanding their reach, than progressing up the pyramid. An early spinoff of the Netherland's Go Ahead Gorredijk, the syndicate has since founded Atletico Gorredijk in Algeria, and then Gorredijk in the Hattrick Anniversary system, just a couple of months ago.
This could hardly be placed on French head coach Franck Villemain, who had recruited fairly sensibly, if with the wings consistently raised as a relative weakness by their followers. They wouldn't need much width to take this Birds reserve side apart, however, as Tkačík soon demonstrated. All it required was some basic build-up together with Marco Scarsella and Jean-François Sonnen in support, and it was 2-0 before some of the spectators had even settled down.
Yee Jian Hui would be woefully out of position for both those goals, but it was not like the 31 year-old utility man could do much about it, from how terribly out of his depth he was.
Chirag Thevar would not fare much better when he got challenged directly by Kolcsár directly in the 20th minute, with Addeo tying
Yuta Nakakita up already, and it would be three as
Cameron Law failed to get to the fiercely-struck low drive.
Radovan Jaška would then follow up rashly on one of the Birds' few forays into the Cobras' penalty area, with young goalkeeper Naveen Fernando sustaining a nasty gash to his right calf. This had Manoj Yadav - already capped for the national youth team - take over, but it was not like he would have much to do either. A long goal kick by Yadav would soon see Julián Fernández Castrillón open on the left, and the Spanish defender wouldn't miss a beat even after his long run, in sending the ball home for four.
Jaška would be handed the armband at half-time after a clearly diminished
Yuta Nakakita excused himself, and the Birds' defence would get an instant upgrade with
Aw Keng Chuan available to impose himself. Being ineligible to play on Sunday, there was little reason for Aw to pace himself here, and he would acquit himself very well against both Cobras frontmen.
The visitors' main chance for the next twenty-odd minutes would be Oğuzhan Sevindal flashing it a couple of yards over from outside the box, with the game getting rather bogged down otherwise. Jaška himself would be withdrawn for
José Luiz Velho in the 70th minute as the Czech livewire flirted a little too closely with another yellow card, and Marco Scarsella would make it five from the penalty spot a couple of minutes later, as referee Willis Kanchela spotted Thevar restraining Addeo a little too obviously, on the edge of the box.
Addeo would continue trying to get one for himself, and it was a minor wonder that he didn't, from how he had generally eclipsed all his markers - save Aw - whatever the matchup. He would give it a right go with five minutes remaining, as Tkačík trickled it across to him rather than go for the hat-trick, but the Italian would wind up thrashing it off the crossbar.