Namaste Then
Toma Toma
Nepalese III.12 runners-up and former Consolation Cup winners Namaste Tbilisi attracted just over four thousand to The Cooking Pot for their friendly against the Birds. They gave up ground in the first half with Grilled flexing their offensive powers, before matching the hosts in the second. The El Khateeb brothers would return to good effect, with
Markus Pallas displaying solid judgment in defence, before his heavy legs did him in.
It was a fairly young Namaste XI that featured today, with their main attraction being Georgian right winger Kakutsa Khangulidze, a blockbuster S$9.5 million signing for Polish head coach Piotr Korzonek. Argentine Nicolás Patricio Inda, at 22 years, was three years Khangulidze's junior, but already the standout of a midfield that included Surinamese captain Edson Moenne. Veteran defenders Prashant Jha and Awas Jha - unrelated, with Awas' younger brother Binodh having moved to Italian club Real Buddaci - were slightly short on pace, however, and 38 year-old Scottish goalie Mikey Eaton had clearly seen better days.
Grilled needed no invitation to test Eaton out, and they would have the possession to do so. Want-away Belgian winger Dante Sonneville had the measure of
Toma Tamiya on paper, but was all too often pulled deep due to the dominance of the Grilled forwards. This was the case in the thirteenth minute with Toma left to confront Awas Jha alone with
Hwang Teck Fu having occupied Sonneville, and a little jig by Toma lost the defender for long enough to clip it into the bottom corner.
There would be a second four minutes later with
Chia Kwang Tse shrugging off form concerns - and Moenne - to surge up the middle and beat Eaton from ten yards, and a further four minutes saw Grilled 3-0 up as
Mohd Marzuki Khairul turned gracefully into Chia's outside-of-boot pass, to curl his shot home. It was definitely not the best of outings for Eaton, although he would show some of his former agility by beating Hwang's 26th minute drive around the goalpost.
Khairil Anwar Hashim Mohd Ismail thus retreated with a clean sheet at half-time with
Dahan Bok coming in, but the Japanese reserve goalkeeper did little for his reputation with what was to come. The sky-blues of Namaste had begun to read Grilled's attacking patterns, and Eaton helped with far improved goaltending as he kept Marzuki out with a reflexive block using his legs, 66 minutes in.
Their first goal arrived in the 73rd minute, after some lazy tracking from the entirety of Grilled's midfield.
Darko Andrović would just watch as Sanjay Karki nipped past him to bear down on the overadvanced Birds backline, which had
Damian Hutter put in a valiant effort at chasing him down.
Dahan Bok squared up as Karki approached, but the Nepalese teenager demonstrated composure beyond his years as he sought out the roof of the net with a measured lob.
The Namaste players mobbed their latest hero in the aftermath, though this happened to bring a prompt response by the Grilled team.
Paulino Trindade had his hands full dealing with Khangulidze before, before finally finding Prashant Jha exposed in his own penalty area. A quick step-in from his blind side later, and it was 4-1.
Toma Tamiya then had his turn in the 77th minute when
Damian Hutter found a pass out of nowhere, and the 34 year-old utility man caught Eaton out from fifteen yards.
The visitors had one last move up their sleeve, that said, and Nir Malla would reduce further to 5-2 in the 81st, with Grilled's ageing defence unable to keep up with all of his many runs.
Chan Ze Han would get a cameo with Andrović passing him the armband with two minutes remaining, and
Toma Tamiya had the stadium in silence as he wound up for a last-minute free-kick that would have completed his hat-trick... but Mikey Eaton saw it coming.
