Witches Three
Slaughter Averted
Three-time Northern Ireland Consolation Cup holders The Little Witches hosted Grilled Birds while atop III.7 and on a seven match winning streak, but could not avoid falling 3-5 at The Cooking Pot. Returning midfielder David Dodson showed his class after eleven seasons in Belgium with Fc Woestijnvis and then a short stay in Spain at Águila Negra F.C, but this was not enough against Grilled's home advantage.
Chia Kwang Tse would join
Mohd Marzuki Khairul and
Hwang Teck Fu up top for the day in this mirror 2-5-3 contest, as
Louis Vara got his chance in goal after
Cameron Law's league mishaps. 37 year-old former national youth star Liam Connolly, another Witches alumni, would fulfil the same role for the visitors, alongside youngsters Orion Slaughter and Kenneth Beattie. Dutch playmaker Sergio Robbers captained the Witches on the right wing, in what may be his last appearance for the club.
Grilled were not about to be shy here, and much of the initial exchanges would center about
Paulino Trindade's duels against a sturdy Tobias Bains on the other flank. Trindade came off the better in those in general, with his seventh minute cross met sweetly by
Aw Keng Chuan's left boot, for a stunning opening goal. Bains worked hard to force
Mohsen El Khateeb off the ball three minutes on, but
Damian Hutter was watching Connolly, and prevented him from getting a clear strike.
The visitors did level it up if after more good work from Trindade, who scooped it onto the top of the goalnet after it got tackled off Chia in the 27th; Dutch wingman Sergio Robbers slotted it past a flatfooted
Louis Vara, after Grilled's defence leaked it to him needlessly. Still,
Chia Kwang Tse had the Birds back ahead just two minutes later, with excellent approach work by
Gandhik Chitre putting him in a facedown against Bruno Gritton on the edge of the penalty area. There remained plenty to do, but Chia did it in nudging it past Gritton on the outside, before squeezing it at the near post.
The Birds continued to work their right half the harder, with Trindade and Chitre gladly interchanging with each other to gain distance on the flank, and one particularly interesting cross from the latter required contortions by a retreating David Dodson to clear. The Witches would have 21 year-old Cleveland Blackadder on for the slowing Liam Connolly soon afterwards, and Blackadder's additional spring in the step had him connect with Fraser Fay's hard pass up the left. That asked a lot of Blackadder, but his flexibility allowed full contact, and Vara was fortunate that it skipped onto the goalpost!
More substitutions and tactical changes were to come with skipper Danny Rolfe handing the armband over to Robbers with the flashily-named American up-and-comer Sky Blizzard coming on for him, and taking over from Bruno Gritton at the back.
Chia Kwang Tse saw his moment and made it 3-1 with the Witches still unsettled, and they would make their final sub with
Damian Hutter suddenly stricken by a calf pull. German goalie Lutz Dortmunder was off, and young Argentine Lautaro Willington on.
The restart had Little Witches stay within touching distance, with Orion Slaughter looping around and back on the left side, to swing a cross inside finding the quick-reacting Tobias Bains. That had quite a bit to do with Hutter's immobility, which
Tian Yonghang fixed by introducing
Radovan Jaška for him pronto. There was barely time for the Witches to adjust at the other end, and after
Lim An Keng knocked it home from an immediate free-kick for Marzuki getting tripped seconds after the restart,
Hwang Teck Fu would catch their defence mostly ballwatching with a bold dribble on Grilled's next possession, making it 5-2.
That had to be it for the visitors, but they were not about to depart before claiming a third goal.
José Luiz Velho would be another seldom-seen face as the 41 year-old made a rare appearance for
Mohsen El Khateeb as the fourth official indicated two minutes of added time, which was more than enough for Orion Slaughter to slash it in from the left - and for
Chia Kwang Tse to get booked for an ill-advised takedown of Kenneth Beattie in the process.
