Kicking Through
Chow Requiem
The Birds breezed through into the Round of 32 of the Champions League tournament with a 8-1 wipeout of Osloveien Kickers FC, who however are poised to be promoted to the Fifth Division of the Norwegian leagues. German Number Nine Jürgen Coudenhove had struck an astonishing 27 goals, almost double that of nearest competitor and teammate Jovan Miric, but it would be the latter who would bag their only consolation as they crashed out without a single point.
Osloveien's support was raucous as always, but any thoughts of a change in their fortunes were swiftly quashed, as Grilled struck on their first serious attack.
Low Aik Jia had wound up on the right after some snappy interplay, and when
Wong Ping Shun set him up for a cut inside, Low didn't disappoint with his unmatched acceleration and less-outstanding but still adequate finish.
This had their 20 year-old Belgian captain Pol Vanbelle, known as "Pølsa" to his legion of fans, take charge, and Osloveien recovered strongly and made a right game of it. The field having seen better days contributed, and they were looking like making it to half-time unscathed, with Timmo Ermel's brave goalline block both scuppering
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim's sure score, and leaving him with a yellow card.
Sad to say, this also preceded a great finish to the half by Grilled.
Chow Ying Lee, who had been beaten by the mud as much as the defenders often, stuck out a leg to redirect a half-clearance immediately after that. Mohd Safri then made up for lost time too, climbing over Alfredo Marco Rusticali to reach and convert a corner, to ineffective protests from the latter.
Osloveien hit back through an even more controversial goal from Jovan Mirić, who appeared to surreptitiously guide József Krekács' cross beyond
Wong Tian Han with his left arm, but the referees let that one slide too. Instead, they hauled
Zhu Changchun up for his awful scything tackle on Krekács right after he released the ball, which was however fully deserved.
Any indications that the Norwegians were about to pull off an upset vanished quickly after the break, as their aging defence began to be overrun by Grilled's forward line, themselves hardly spring chickens.
Chow Ying Lee grabbed his hat-trick by the 58th minute, with little separating two fine and technically near-identical goals that exploited Osloveien's flatness at the back.
The Birds were getting into the mood now, and their other strikers were soon in on the act. Rusticali, normally so calm, played a pass straight into
Tian Yonghang, and Tian was of course not in a forgiving mood. Five minutes later, Mohd Safri then got his second with a stiff raking drive after stopping a run sharply on the edge of the box.
Zhu Changchun then had roles reversed as he was felled after bending Grilled's eighth and last goal around Uruguay Number One Facundo Tafernaberry, who won't want to remember this outing in a hurry.
Lee Lee Hao had been warming up on the sidelines, and replaced
Low Aik Jia during the celebrations, while
Gene Filippone got a few minutes to stretch his legs towards the end.
