Bedevilled
Purple Storm
Still starry-eyed after the 5-0 league victory on Sunday, a new-look Grilled side got taken to the cleaners by purple devils of Greece in their all-white strips. This was Grilled's second visit to the Aegean Isles, and they return empty handed still as they lost the first to Molaikos, 1-2. Both sides tried out new tactics, with differing results as Grilled's counterattacks broke on the four-man purple devil defence while their strategy of attacking on the flanks troubled Grilled's wingbacks no end.
Weng Seng-Huat and
Kau Siu-Cheung had not played for some time, and were clearly not match-fit. Grilled gave newly-transferred
Antonio Fernández Riviera and
Milen Kolesov their debuts, the former as a midfield stopper and the latter as a forward, and neither sparkled. Riviera showed nerves with his first touch, but thankfully the mistake didn't result in a goal.
Weng Seng-Huat was responsible for the first two goals, as Australian winger Theodore Woodbury and then striker Ioannis Vasilakos got past him easily for them. Huel-sheng had no chance either when Uruguan defender Víctor Fillol broke past Siu-Cheung as purple devils attacked in numbers. Tellskär was the only bit of class on a ramshackle Grilled side, and he strove in vain to keep the team afloat as he got cautioned for a mistimed tackle.
In the second half, it was the turn of Alcántara as he challenged Woodbury for the ball too early, letting the winger feed Vasilakos for his captain to get his second goal. That was hard to swallow for Alcántara, who had barely put a foot wrong in the first forty-five minutes. Wingback Sotiri Tsirlidis repeatedly dribbled past an exhausted
Li Ze in the scorching summer heat, on one occasion setting up Fillol for a shot which bounced off Alcántara and over. A minute later Ioannis Vasilakos completed his hat-trick from the short corner as he shrugged off a listless Siu-Cheung.
Li Ze got booked out of frustration, and Vasilakos would have rubbed salt into the wound if he had managed to beat Huel-sheng from the resulting free kick, but his time his aim failed him.
