Isola Visit
Scognamiglio Gift
Freshly-promoted Italian Division Five side A.C. Isola Liri had requested a Sunday friendly at The Cooking Pot, and Grilled Birds obliged - giving no quarter. The weather wasn't as accommodating with rain not letting up throughout, but that didn't stop the Birds from letting loose with four good goals.
Isola would be captained by 24 year-old Argentine midfielder Dmitriy Demeschenko for today, and while their formation would be declared on the match booklet as a 4-4-2, Rowland Guthrie would soon be spotted far more often in midfield than rightback, with Mauro Pesavento from the other wing venturing even further into attack. This had Isola effectively mirroring Grilled's setup, but the Birds would justifiably look more polished in it, with
Gandhik Chitre slogging through a waterlogged penalty box to angle the first goal past Lino Urbinelli after eight minutes.
The visitors would have their chances as a brute-force approach proved quite suited to the conditions, and they had Demeschenko rock the crossbar six minutes on after a gale-force gust visibly affected Ramón Leiva's inbound pass. Grilled would be on the lucky side next with
Lim An Keng's header from distance being unwittingly deflected in by Oronzo Mazzolari, as
Radomil Marcol saved brilliantly from Rowland Guthrie's near point-blank effort. Isola kept trying, and they would get one back in the 38th minute, with Severino Scognamiglio's lob floating over Marcol's leap, before dipping sharply once past the goalkeeper.
That was fair recompense for Isola's grinding, and the players largely looked relieved for the half-time break when it came. They then took slightly longer than usual to emerge from the tunnel and into the continuing downpour, with substitute
Mohsen El Khateeb indistinguishable from his fellows after a minute's drenching. He would have his moment in the 67th in befuddling Leiva with his footwork only to shoot wide, with Urbinelli blocking
Raúl Himadas' on-target free-kick before that.
Toma Tamiya seemed excited to come on for
Paulino Trindade with fifteen minutes left, and his eagerness would rub off on the rest of the Birds; Toma's instant push up the left would be heavily supported, and
Lim An Keng would provide the final run for 3-1.
Gandhik Chitre would then putt in the fourth goal four minutes later, as
Chad Thach assisted from a grand sweeping advance from Grilled.
