Kookaburras In Pot
Croitor Makes It Count
The Birds secured their first league victory of the campaign against the Holland region-based Laughing Kookaburras, with the former Winnetou Reborn being one of several clubs linked to recent Oceanian champions Draconarius. The Kookaburras had won their first three matches coming into this fixture, following up a 3-0 shutout of Ambush F.C. with a 3-1 cup result against III.7 challengers BlessedOne. They wound up on the wrong end of the latter margin today, though, as
Hwang Teck Fu demonstrated that he represented danger, even when not at his best.
Hungarian head coach János Nyíri drew on his tactical flexibility in fielding a 5-3-2 for the day, after facing Ambush F.C. in a 2-5-3 last weekend. Romanian goalie Vlad-Cristian Albină remained essential either way, and versatile Canadian player Nigel Bolger dropped back into defence from midfield in support. The changes cascaded with Vlad Bubu easing into the wing from left attack, which left Italian Number Eight Andrea Risi to shoulder the main scoring burden.
Dan Alstani did not have that wide a range, but it was not as if his Birds team suffered that much for it.
Wu Ping De remained frozen out as Alstani selected
Mohd Marzuki Khairul at left wing, with
Hisham Zubari also having to wait his turn.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko clearly appreciated the chance he had been given, as he gave vent to his ball-carrying abilities against a thin opposition midfield. This had a pass get through to
Hwang Teck Fu in the thirteenth minute, and the star Number Nine held Samuele Discanni off to lift a decisive lob past Albină high into the near top corner.
That opening goal saved the Birds from what could have been a nervy day, as Laughing Kookaburras demonstrated a very real capacity to contain Grilled both before and after. This had Albină essentially unthreatened until the 36th minute, soon after Fulgencio Gotiortúa got booked for sending
Phillip Nagata over whilst conceding a corner.
Johann Schwietzer's floater was nearly tipped in by
Chia Kwang Tse, and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul finished the job after former Romanian youth international Nicolae-Sorin Panfil had his attempted clearance blocked back.
2-0 probably slightly flattered the Birds, and the first half ended with the visitors creating a couple of counterattacking opportunities for themselves. The first one had Domonkos Marjai whip one back off the goalpost in the 38th minute, and after Marzuki's curler was denied by Albină, the resulting return had
Radomil Marcol come out early to forestall Yaba Baasanjav's effort. Schwietzer then had his own free-kick from fifteen yards with two minutes remaining, but his setup for
Chad Thach was read by the defence.
Grilled Birds finally stamped their will on the proceedings some twenty minutes into the next half, as the Kookaburras' relatively-passive approach started to fade in the face of continued forays.
Lim An Keng started one of these in the 63rd, and rapid exchanges left
Chad Thach free to shoot from just outside the penalty area. Vlad-Cristian Albină was too good to be beaten from that range, however, as he executed a stunning flying save.
Even Albină could not hold out forever, however, and all the S$20 million-rated goalkeeper's vaunted ballplaying skills could not bail him out six minutes later. He had already stopped the show with a superb feint to keep the ball away from the marauding
Chad Thach following a backpass, but there was no getting the ball away under the Birds' all-out press.
Phillip Nagata came inside to retrieve, and he sought out Hwang for a no-nonsense finish and 3-0.
It was simply not
Chad Thach's day on the other hand, as the Number Ten found getting past Discanni to be no great task, but remained unable to stick it into the net. A cracker right after Hwang's second goal would rock the left upright, and after a soaring lob came off the crossbar four minutes later, Belize leftback Lenin Hidalgo freed himself for a sixty-yard dash down the touchline. Călin Croitor raced into the Grilled box after offering the overlap, and smartly avoided
Ananda Hettiarachchi's challenge from behind before driving it at Marcol's near post.
Polish referee Marek Długoszek then had to book Hidalgo for his over-the-board celebrations that included kicking the corner flag over, not that the travelling fans appeared to mind that much. A comeback was not in the cards as the Kookaburras were not exactly set up to threaten Marcol's goal, although Andrea Risi did give a scare in stoppage time, after
Chia Kwang Tse's near-miss was followed by a long goal-kick.
