Ha-nam Harmless
Panigrahi Pen
Newly-relegated South Korean III.15 club FC Ha-nam would be the guests at The Cooking Pot today, with Belgian gaffer Alex Hopkins having just presided over a bunch of minor transfers, and a swop deal with fellow third divisioners FC Oldmen that saw Iranian winger Peyman Chatrazar exchanged for Brazilian Elival Prata Jr., and a couple million bucks as makeweight. Prata Jr. would not make the trip, to the disappointment of the fans, though they did get to watch national star Hyuk-Min Yook in defence.
Yook, Shim-Bae Kim and Shinwa Ye aside, it wasn't really a vintage lineup by the visitors, who were clearly out to practise their pressing on the heavy pitch. The Birds found themselves up against two banks of five, and invited to attack. Actually, FC Ha-nam were not half bad at neutralizing play, and it took a frankly odd penalty call by Panama referee Adriano Meneses in the 36th minute, to gift Grilled their first real chance - and goal.
Teo Chuan Yong definitely looked like he was going nowhere, as he stumbled into the far corner of the penalty area, ably marked by Sunghaeng Choon and Yook. Neither seemed particularly close by when Teo took a tumble, but there was contact according to Meneses, who did not allow protests by the FC Ha-nam men to change his mind.
Bhavya Panigrahi would take charge against Dominique Cap in the visitors' goal, and the veteran set-piece man would successfully send Cap the wrong way, with a well-timed stutter.
It would be a strange day indeed, as Grilled would suffer an actual injury due to the spot kick itself;
Damian Hutter had been amongst the players lined up along the edge of the box in case of a rebound, but he wound up badly twisting his left knee, as a spot of turf unexpectedly gave way.
Bilal Mohammad Harun would come on once it was determined that Hutter's issue was serious.
The oddities continued with Cap then getting rotated out of goal for Sunghaeng Choon, and if the spectators found Choon between the sticks in gloves and outfield kit unusual, they had at least have had some warning. Cap for his part would be left plying right wingback in his goalkeeper's outfit, and got run down by
Kalki Parvathaneni in short order, for which the Birds forward was booked.
Cap and Choon would come out for the second half more conventionally attired, as
Tian Yonghang sent
Chia Kwang Tse on for
Chad Thach. Opportunities remained very hard to come by, with FC Ha-nam's focus yielding the Birds little time in the final third, much less openings for shots.
Paulino Trindade's 69th minute one-on-one with Choon would be disappointing for the São Tomé e Príncipe winger, and saw
Gilbert Webb on for Panigrahi in the aftermath.
If FC Ha-nam were to try and take this into extra time, it would have to be soon, but there was no sign of any such intentions. It would instead be the Birds to try and seal the win, with
Kalki Parvathaneni and then
Chia Kwang Tse making brilliant approaches, only to flub the finishes.
Chan Ze Han came closest in the 84th minute after slipping it between Lech Studziński's legs, but Shinwa Ye - who had just taken over from Choon in goal - made the necessary block.
