It's Greek To Birds
Near Kop-out
If the Birds had imagined that Macedonian club Iraklis_Thessalonikis_F.C. would be easy pickings, just because they were less than a year old, they would be sorely mistaken. Lenos Arvouniotis' well-built selection would be more than a match for this collection of Grilled's reserves, and vice-captain for the day
Kalki Parvathaneni would not be able to carry the team from left wing. The midfield trio of
Chad Thach,
Hwang Teck Fu and
Chia Kwang Tse felt positively lightweight against their rather more-experienced counterparts, with Dutch signing Bouko Evertsen able to bully them most steps of the way.
Thessalonikis' introduction to league football had been harsh as they lost their first three fixtures, but have since won four and drawn two of their games since then, moreover hosing Hobby ESV Ziegenberg 5-1 just a few days ago. Michail Papandreou, who had reaped a hat-trick then, was thankfully not present today, but it was not like the hosts didn't have a ready-made replacement.
Atang Mangoye didn't help as he played an unconvincing backpass almost at the feet of Xerxis Voutsinas in the eighth minute, only to be bailed out by
Yee Jian Hui.
The Greeks barely needed the help, frankly, what with
Enrique Baena seldom bothering to keep tabs on Lampis Ketikidis - which had the left winger left free much of the time. Charalampos Limperidis would find him in plenty of space in the tenth minute with great distribution from defence, and Ketikidis advanced well into the penalty area, before going for the natural shot pass sideways to Nikos Fragkopoulos, who swung it past
Manuel Vadalà.
It would be Evertsen to take over the match, and the red-haired bruiser would earn the rare distinction of scoring twice in the same minute. The first would be a standard-issue mistake from the Birds backline, but one might have thought that they had learnt their lesson, only for them to be caught napping again from kick-off. It was the turn of Savvas Moustopoulos to break clear with a dribble down the right touchline, and a couple of tidy passes saw Evertsen set up for a straightforward finish - and it was three-nil.
Not much would change for the second half as this inexperienced Grilled team were led by the nose, with the teenaged midfielders willing to run, but clearly lacking any direction. Mangoye couldn't help much in that respect from the front, and although
Mohsen El Khateeb was game to act as a control tower, his reading of the game left much to be desired. There would be entirely too much thinking and not enough moving going on, when Dimitrakis Alexandris went around the back to make it four, six minutes into the restart.
The Birds' fortunes took an upturn as Jaška and Mangoye went off for veteran pair
José Luiz Velho and
Prokop Mottl in the 70th minute, and the latter would manage to score on his first touch.
Chad Thach had not had the best of outings, with Sevastianos Tsounis generally smothering him, but the youngster would get a bit of his own back with a blind lob from some thirty yards out. No-one quite knew if he had meant it to drift perfectly for Mottl to get on the end of, but that was what happened, and Thessalonikis goalkeeper James Dorland would be beaten at long last, through a disguised sidefoot.
Consolation goal secured, the Grilled forwards had energy to burn nonetheless, and Mottl would strike again just before regular time ended.
Enrique Baena, if having abandoned much of his tracking duties, would at least remain true to his attacking instincts, and his indefatigable butting of heads on the right would finally get one through. Mottl still had Limperidis to contend with, but created space for himself with a sweeping step inside, which gave him just enough breathing room to poke it home for 4-2.
