Over The Hill
Brenes Hitback
Lim An Keng edged Mongolian Division Two visitors Hill United BS 3-2 in today's friendly at The Cooking Pot, which was admittedly a harder struggle than they had put up in their II.3 league, where they have suffered eight straight losses and just three goals scored. That said, the Birds were not about to be too inhospitable as they fielded a 42 year-old
Atang Mangoye as captain at the back, with Japanese backup custodian
Dahan Bok making just his second start for the team, after his unfortunate debut injury and the passage of three months.
Lim for his own part had been dropped from the first eleven for last Sunday's league game due to poor form, and he was understandably eager to prove himself immediately. United would use the wings well, however, and Hulagu Nevniz came in powerfully from the right in the sixth minute, cutting decisively inside
Toma Tamiya to threaten Mangoye. The veteran did his best to hold Nevniz up, but not enough to prevent a sweet outlet pass at the oncoming Marcello Colica, who slipped it past Bok at his near post.
That couldn't have done much for the recovering goalkeeper's confidence, and thankfully the rest of the Grilled team soon took up the slack. After establishing control in midfield, Jokūbas Firinauskas' goal became more or less a shooting gallery for the Birds, with the Lithuanian keeper beaten in the fifteenth minute by
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's subtly-deviating knuckleball. Five minutes later,
Lim An Keng gave the Birds the lead with his uncompromising run up the middle, as he weathered Simon van Dulmen's attempted shoulder-bump to get his shot off.
There would be another cluster of attempts beginning in the 34th minute, beginning with
Atang Mangoye being egged on by the home fans to have a go from the corner of the box, which he gamely did; it was a more than decent effort too, and had it been a few inches lower, it would have gone in. As it was, the rebound sparked a race up the left as United broke at pace, but sadly for them Oldřich Lebeda waited too long to pull the trigger, by which time
Damian Hutter had him under close watch.
Two top saves from Firinauskas against Lim and Marzuki closed the first half, and the next began with a comprehensive defensive effort by United, which limited Grilled Birds to zero shots on target for the first twenty-five minutes or thereabouts. United would be helped by a triple substitution that brought Lorenzen, Mytnik and Brenes on about the hour mark, which supplied much-needed fresh legs.
Grilled's lead was looking increasingly perilous, in fact, and
Lim An Keng's second in the 70th minute came not a minute too late. United were beginning to hold their own in the middle, and it was only quick thinking from
Paulino Trindade that created this for his team. Watching Lim's early run, Trindade swept it towards him from the right, and although the header appeared to have come off Flurin Stoffel as much as it had the Grilled striker, there would be no contest of the referee's attribution.
That gave the Birds additional breathing room, with Marzuki trying his luck from twenty-five yards in the 85th minute - and coming closer than he had any right to. United would seize the moment after
Damian Hutter was replaced by old favourite
Bhavya Panigrahi, with Rafael Brenes blazing past him on the counter. Panigrahi did roll back the years as he huffed up the pitch to latch onto
Gandhik Chitre's lay-off shortly after, and put it narrowly over to appreciation from the crowd.
