Second Minute Decider
Tian shook hands with Hyvärinen after this very closely fought fixture, before commending his players for their attitude. "A few seasons ago, we might well have given up after they had taken the lead with less than twenty minutes to go." he said. "Or at least gotten disheartened. There was no sign of that at all today, which says much about our mentality."
The win sees Grilled Birds go on to face another familiar name in HEBFC Tonners FC in the fourth round, while Farmer Bunnies were booted out of contention after falling to Queenstown MZKs - themselves just defeated 3-4 by Arcturules in the league - by Tham Wan Liang's blitzkrieg. Queenstown's very first attack saw nobody pick up on the accelerating winger, and he made the Buns pay dearly for it.
Dušan Václavík's half-chance in the 13th minute was perhaps the closest that Farmer Bunnies would get to an equalizer, but the Czech star - taking the forward role for the day - elected not to stay on his feet against Gavin Rotenberg's tackle. Referee Octav Loghin didn't buy the penalty appeal at all, and the Buns were fortunate not to concede further in the remaining minutes.
Grilled International advanced in the Hattrick International Cup with an upset over Greek H.I. III.10 club Argoporiakos Int'l, if after a spot kick boost.
Waldemar Gołata was a lot more convincing with his fall in the 28th minute, which had
Snæbjörn Sigfússon leave Romanian goalkeeper Adrian Buchidău no chance at all, with his thunderbolt to the top left corner.
Sigfússon went on to contribute an assist for
Umut Koza off a neat cross in the 37th, after which he had several decent shots saved by Buchidău in the second half. It was job done for the Icelandic wingman either way, however, with Grilled International now drawn to play Internacional Norte F.C. in the next round.
