Ruse Exposed
Terkel Teases
Grilled's B-Team was not significantly affected by word that their first team had been knocked out of the Hattrick Masters, and found the mood to entertain in an effortless 5-0 whitewash of Bulgarian Division Six club DunavRuse.
Originally scheduled to face Tinombala FC in the Singapore Community Cup, Grilled found themselves free to accept challenges after Tinombala revealed a prior commitment. The walkover proved decisive, as Grilled's Team Geylang squeaked to a 3-2 Round One win over Club Sentosa with both sides having a win and two draws each in the other four matches.
DunavRuse harboured no illusions about the task facing them, and gamely trotted out a defensive 4-4-2. They still had American goalkeeper Jason Callaway to thank for two early saves, nevertheless, as he stopped two beautiful efforts from
Marcus Liehner and
Tim Hobson respectively.
Leftback Angel Froloshki, already suspended for DunavRuse's next league game, proved himself more of a devil as he struggled to contain
Hidde van Liere. Far more famous defenders have found the Dutch winger to be a real handful in fairness, and Froloshki will surely not be the last one to get booked for grabbing the back of van Liere's jersey.
Dragos Olaru, whose Grilled future remains under heavy doubt, built up his resume with a sharp piece of poaching in the 29th minute. Hjortlind, so disappointing in the Masters match earlier in the day, will see his 36th minute goal as some small redemption. Indeed, the Swedish striker had requested to be named for the friendly immediately after the Masters slump.
English legend
Tim Hobson, now all of 32 years old, found no delight as not one but three superb free kicks were denied over the course of the game. Grilled's other goals would have to arrive via other sources.
The hosts began to get a grip on Grilled's style of play, as they limited their visitors for just one real chance from open play for most of the second half. That one was missed in spectacular fashion by team captain
Luis Alcántara, who got his two-footed strike almost right but could not beat the crossbar.
Terkel Borup saved his best for last, and with less than ten minutes remaining ran the tiring DunavRuse defence ragged. Combining brilliantly with van Liere, the clever Dane scored a brace for fun with twin cannonballs three minutes apart.
He could have had one of the latest hat-tricks in Grilled history, had not Callaway pulled a commendably diving stop in the 88th minute. That was only a temporary reprive, though, as Alcántara was on hand to tap in from five metres.
