Didier Drubbing
An Keng At It
After a long flight to the Ivory Coast, Grilled Birds played III.13 hosts Followers of Didier at their Followers Stadium, and won out if against a selection made up mostly of trainees aged 21 years and younger.
Ananda Hettiarachchi returned after an uncharacteristic layoff over the weekend, but it was perhaps
Houssam Belhocine and
Lim An Keng that made the biggest splash from the wings.
The Followers had been founded by the management of Croatian Division Five leaders Povratak Odlikaša, probably better known for their ownership of Lebanon Phoenicians, who have been contesting the Al Dawry Al Aam Al Lubnani on and off over the past few seasons. Swiss boss Sammy Tremp has been raising a golden generation with Ettore Di Muoio as its face, and the French Number Ten would start at left wing today. This also included such potential stars as Burkina Faso's Issaka Kouyaté and local sweeper Tiessibiri Adingra, though many of them would be out of position today, as part of Tremp's training regime.
Their supporters had barely settled in when Grilled went ahead in the second minute, after a shock penalty was called by Spanish referee Josep Blanxer. The Birds had been the ones under early pressure, but
Damian Hutter got considerable distance on his clearance, and
Mason Glendinning made the most of contact with Adingra as they chased the bounce into the box.
Houssam Belhocine cut the conversion very close, in smashing the penalty in off Idriss Kientega's right goalpost.
Grilled were not about to pass the Followers' disorientation up, but
Hwang Teck Fu perhaps went a little overboard with his attempted lob from nearly thirty yards, that Kientega gathered. Hwang would keep taking Alfons Scharnhorst for a ride in midfield with his considered positioning, however, and he did eventually chip the goalkeeper in the 26th minute, soon after
Lim An Keng had made it two-nil off teenaged fullback Raoul Fadiga's leaving the ball to run.
Homegrown striker Blati Kodjané made to rouse the crowd as he stood over the ball for his fourth kick-off of the day, but his midfield was just not up to the task here. They could hardly be faulted for that against a vastly more experienced Grilled mob, and went four behind on the half-hour.
Virgil Huang had not been the most efficient with his runs, but his pulling to the right side was clearly the correct choice as
Ananda Hettiarachchi sought an outlet.
The second half featured much improved goalkeeping and defending by the hosts, as the Birds soon missed the gung-ho of
Chia Kwang Tse, who was taken off for a rather more conservative
Chad Thach in midfield. It was obvious that the Birds top scorer was not about to risk anything that might prevent his participation in the season closer against Singapore Big Dogs - an attitide that found approval by the few Birds fans present.
Followers of Didier needed to get creative to eke something out with minimal possession, and Liechtenstein left winger Stefan-Christoph Breuss supplied just that in the 52nd minute, as he feinted before cutting inside
Lim An Keng to lay the entire Grilled right flank bare. Veteran forward Basile Oule Tia took Hutter out with him in mid-air, and the cross fell to the late-arriving Ettore Di Muoio, who however did not threaten
Dahan Bok with his unconvincing finish.
Grilled Birds then scored a fifth goal after 64 minutes, after a long spell on the ball that had the hosts losing their patience. Issaka Kouyaté lunged in too readily on
Hwang Teck Fu and left the latter free to advance, which led to their defence stepping up too early in turn.
Lim An Keng was waiting for just that, and Hwang read his intentions perfectly in releasing the assist right on cue.
A distraught Breuss finally lost his cool in the 70th minute after one decision too many went against him, but he did at least have the consolation that Grilled Birds would not add to their tally, mostly thanks to Adingra and then Kientega blocking separate
Virgil Huang attempts off the line. Blati Kodjané would also be booked with three minutes left, but
Kendell El Khateeb and
Chad Thach couldn't put it in either.
