Canterbury Tailed
It was telling that
Tian Yonghang evinced little pleasure at the final whistle, despite the clear victory. "The players know themselves, how disappointing they were in front of goal." the head coach explained. "It's easier to be harsh after a win, but frankly if they continue to be this wasteful, we're not getting promoted for a long, long time."
Farmer Bunnies were not exactly lighting it up themselves, but
Judah Cho's 73rd minute strike did it for them against New Zealand H.A.L side Canterbury Dragons. Winger Janardan Hati had supplied the most excitement the match had seen with a yellow card foul in the 32nd minute that nearly led to
Edgar Popienia putting it in, and the game was heading for a yawn-inducing draw, when Cho finally came through on a misplaced pass up the middle.
Grilled International might have wished for a similarly quiet outing, as they lost influential veteran
Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh for up to a month, in their 2-0 win over Bulgarian III.8 representatives Unity13. Unity had crashed after reaching the Vissha Liga but two years ago, and it was a rather reduced side that faced International at Burung today.
Egidius van der Duin and
Chua Jun Long put two in the net by the 20th minute, which settled it.
It was quite the pity then that International couldn't pack it up then, as the match became savage at times as it wore on. Sazwan would eventually get his right ankle caught under Brazilian teenager Pedro Cícero Gnoato in the 83rd, as the duo went down hustling after a loose ball. The ankle was clearly out of alignment as Gnoato picked himself up, and substitute
Remond Bergervoet looked somewhat shaken as he inspected it on the touchline.
"We all know it gets harder to recover, as you get older." International boss
Didi Reidenbach said. "It's looking bad for Sazwan, and the last thing we want to do, is to rush him back prematurely."
