Tuna Get Their Way
Larsson Bengts It In
Swedish III.60 club Tuna FK defeated a Grilled second team on their own ground, after a quite strange absence of action in the first half. The Tunas had just promoted with an excellent record, and they brought an imperiousness into the game that seemed to affect the young Birds somewhat. Still, there being no shots even on target for forty-five minutes was pretty unexpected, to the extent that the commentators had to dig deep into the records to try and ascertain when this last happened.
Things returned more towards normal in the second half, as Grilled began to find openings in Tuna FK's very disciplined backline. Although nominally a 3-5-2, this generally presented itself as five at the back with their fullbacks tucking in and their wingers eager to drop back.
José Luiz Velho's entrance for
Teo Chuan Yong did spice it up a little, with Teo's lack of honest pace fatally undermining his attacking prospects under such circumstances.
It was the Tunas who nearly profited from Grilled's renewed offensive intent despite that, as
Gandhik Chitre lingered a bit too long on the ball in midfield waiting for the perfect moment, when he got crowded out by two Tuna players. Player-coach Claes-Göran Persson was quick to just boot it upfield, where it fell just right for Lars Rönnlind. The finish was slightly rushed, though, and
Manuel Vadalà just about kept it out with a strong right arm.
Two more Birds substitutes went on soon after that scare, as
Radovan Jaška and
Mohsen El Khateeb doing their usual relief operation in defence. That saw another great opportunity from the visitors as Jan Adelén sent it in from deep on the left, but the tasty cross was wasted by debuting wing trainee Adin Oković, who had only to get his head to it.
Still, a tied game at the end of regular time wasn't quite an unfair reflection of what had happened, which was not much in fact. Extra time was scarcely less stimulating, and Bengt Larsson's cool turn-in off another top Adelén low cross, would be enough as the last word.
