Pirates' Bounty
Jolly Jens
The Birds were held to ransom by Thai Division Three club Bangkok Pirates after a draining Ruby Challenger Cup final, but remain likely to progress despite the slender 2-3 defeat. German central midfielder Jens Dinges found the late winner after Grilled came up with some stubborn staying power, supported by more goalkeeping magic from
Wong Tian Han.
Tracing their roots to Swiss club Lost Boys FC, the Pirates have arguably had more success than their parent, topping III.2 two seasons ago. With Swiss national Julien Dondaine as the face of the team, and Udom Boonprasert as a local darling alongside him, they have taken to a classic 3-5-2 that has proven tough to breach.
Gennady Dvorak returned to lead the line after having been passed over for the finals, with
Neeraj Muthyala trusted with central midfield after continually standing out in training.
Low Aik Jia would also start, hugging the left sideline.
There was little of the urgency that had marked yesterday's match on the Grilled side, though, and the players couldn't quite hide that they were dragging their feet a bit. Bangkok Pirates were far more lively, and Boonprasert's slick twists got
Tian Yonghang booked after barely seven minutes.
Other than that, the first half was relatively uneventful, with Pirates content with not exposing themselves as a first priority. Still, they would manage to grab the lead in the eighteenth minute, when wingback Manoo Wongwipak latched on a deflected pass, and homed the ball in at the opposite top corner.
Grilled were adamant in attempting to get it to Dvorak, but Baltram Münzker was in an uncompromising mood, and the Birds would have to wait for
Hariharan Prabhu to take over from Muthyala for the second half. Six minutes after that change, Prabhu nipped past Jens Dinges and delivered a mouth-watering diagonal ball, that Dvorak volleyed past Clemens Stadeli with clear relish.
Alfréd Pálenkár would however equalise in the very next minute, after a thunderous effort from the very active Dinges was blocked with great difficulty by
Wong Tian Han. Predicting the bounce expertly, Pálenkár came in with a lob that the grounded Wong had no hope of saving.
This would however develop into Grilled's best period of the match, and Dondaine soon found himself pressed into an unwise challenge on
Low Aik Jia, for which he was booked. The pressure mounted slowly but surely, and Low went down hard marginally inside the penalty area, in the 71st minute. He appeared to be looking for contact, but Hilmar Stewart didn't have to oblige; in any case,
Wong Ping Shun polished it off for two-all.
The Birds could have swung it around as
Gennady Dvorak outpaced everyone on the right to earn a one-on-one with Stadeli, who did hold his nerve to head the forward off.
Wong Tian Han was sadly not as fortunate in the 82nd minute, as he got over in time to prevent a certain goal by Stewart, only for Dinges to arrive and usher in the soft rebound.
