Trouble In Gotham
Quitián To Sit
Colombian IV.17 side Gotham Team FC were the Birds' season-ending friendly invitees, and they would make it a pressing practice session at The Cooking Pot. Gotham could not have been too displeased with the final 2-0 scoreline given how they had sacrificed all initiative, the loss of first-choice goalkeeper Carlos Antonio Quitián to a nasty hamstring injury had to gnaw.
It was otherwise just another day out for Gotham, with homegrown favourite Pablo Cabrera up front together with Czech buddy Bohumil Janík. Italian midfielder Giampietro Pollastrini would hold the fort behind them, with most of the attacking duties falling to Colombian right winger Esteban Quintana. There would be little enough of that, however, with Gotham resorting to a full-on press from kick-off.
That wouldn't be overly effective to begin with, as Grilled Birds managed to play their way out of most of Gotham's hardworking but overly readable marking. Getting through still wasn't easy with the visitors not afraid to fall back in numbers, but
Paulino Trindade would find a relatively large amount of space on the left, whenever Quintana tried to push upfield. This would lead to the first goal in the fifteenth minute, with
Gilbert Webb executing a good overlap, and feeding it nicely for
José Luiz Velho to prod into the net.
There would be a lull in goalmouth action as Gotham found their feet, but not for too long as the Birds pieced together a long attacking sequence about the 30 minute mark. That saw
Chia Kwang Tse blast one high towards the crossbar, only to have it palmed over by Carlos Antonio Quitián. Quitián grimaced as he pulled himself back up from that, though, and a second save three minutes later would have him rolling on the grass in evident pain. Alonso Barrera would replace him after a short inspection by the Gotham medical team, with head coach David Ocaña looking worried as he was stretchered off.
Not much sympathy was forthcoming from the Birds, as
Hwang Teck Fu banged a second past Barrera, before the substitute custodian even had the time to touch the ball. It would be more of Gotham's fevered pressing until half-time, which had teenager Carlos Desiderio Hauche take over from Israeli wingman Danya Shmekker right before Gordon Miksza blew for time, as Ocaña sought to avoid another tragedy.
Grilled matched that with
Teo Chuan Yong's exit for
Prokop Mottl at the beginning of the second half, and it had to be admitted that for all of Teo's experience, his aging legs had not acquitted him well against Gotham's high-energy defensive style. Fullback Atanazy Dzienisiewicz was taken off for Gotham too as they sought to balance Quintana's tendencies, with Tulio Morales entering to track Trindade exclusively.
Chia continued to be one of Grilled's top producers after the break, and he would turn past Raphaël Gavard and Gregorio Villada in a single swift motion, about the 50th minute. The finish was not the best, though, and Chia might have regretted going for too much placement, as Barrera swiped it around the post. Gotham got their first real chance of the day six minues later, as Hauche sprinted past Webb to bear down on
Manuel Vadalà, but he forgot to shoot in his excitement.
It was mostly the Birds asking all the questions after that, as Barrera then pulled off the highlight of the second half - an excellent save first from
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan's rising rocket, and then stifling another powerful effort off the right boot of
Mohd Marzuki Khairul. This won the reserve goalkeeper many headpats from his teammates, as Grilled slowly introduced their final subs for the day, Jaška and El Khateeb.
The final big opportunity of note would arrive in the 74th minute as
Prokop Mottl sought the forwards out with a delectable cross, but Gregorio Villada somehow inserted himself ahead of Velho there. Gotham's pressing worked pretty well thereafter, and it ended two-nil.
