Different But Zame
Zhu Toils On
Only five of the Zambree FC side that had grabbed a 3-3 draw at The Cooking Pot barely more than a month ago started today, but the sea change made no impact on the eventual outcome, which was also a 3-3 at BFL Arena.
Seriously threatened by relegation, Zambree player-coach Vanderson Guiga instituted a full-scale transformation last week, which began with Espel, Matias and Skoupil being sold, and Santaras Frederas arriving together with Virgílio Freire Lins. Local forward Khaironnisam bin Osman and Swiss winger Arnold Hansel would soon join them out of the door, and in came German midfielder Horst Wlassak, another striker in Nunzius Zuberbühler, and on Saturday night, wing replacement Tejs Nonbye.
The entire team philosophy shifted too, as Guiga abandoned their defensive five-man defence for an attacking 2-5-3, featuring all three of their new frontmen. Grilled were positively unchanged in comparism, other that former national U-20 defender
Liang Liyong getting his first league start of the season, with team captain
Qassem Madaini again rested.
As with the previous fixture, the opener came in the second minute, but it was Brazilian Virgílio Freire Lins who ingratiated himself with the home fans with his first for his new club. The Birds knew to expect the unexpected, but
Abdul bin Jantan was undone by the acceleration of unknown quantity Nonbye, and Lins directed the cross in past
Edmund Kryus with a sure boot.
Grilled answered within the minute as
Zhu Changchun struck for the fourth straight match with a thunderbolt through the middle, but it was Zambree who took over after that, as the Birds simply didn't look up to it. Stanca had warned that the hosts were a lot more dangerous than their four points might indicate, but his midfield slacked off anyway, and were made to look lazy by newcomer Wlassak.
The German exhibited a top-class engine as he shielded Zambree's now-vulnerable central defence by himself, and topped it off with a solid drive in the 28th minute after Nonbye had again gotten the better of bin Jantan and
Ling Fuquan on the left.
Grilled's didn't seem to realise the predicament they were in, and after another poor pass across the middle that had Stanca tearing his hair out on the sideline, fell a third goal behind. Jan-Phlipp Wölm cut inside after intercepting that, and his straight-ahead lob was snapped up by Lins, who was helped by a big deflection off
lu Zunwen.
That had Stanca screaming by the side, which seemed to wake the team up, and the Grilled dressing room was noisy indeed during the break. Whatever happened inside, the men in green were certainly much more on the ball for the second half, though they did have to sweat when Yordi Ros crashed an attempt against the post in the 51st minute.
The Birds knew they didn't have very long to pull off a rescue act, and began to really step it up at this point.
Tian Yonghang got a salvo off in the 62nd minute, reprising the experience of last Wednesday's friendly, and very nearly caught Colby Wong unawares with a sneakily-dipping volley from well outside the box. Luckily for the U-20 goalie, it found only the crossbar, and Guiga was on hand to hack it far away before
Chow Ying Lee closed in.
They had recovered the initiative, though, and
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim came up with a neat finish in the 70th minute, after two barren outings. One of
Zhao Jing Wei's direct runs finally worked, and the returnee threaded the ball to Mohd Safri as soon as a lane opened itself. Grilled's star turn didn't hesitate, and immediately sent it past Wong on arrival.
Zambree were now back to protecting what would be only their second league win of the campaign, when heartbeat Guiga was taken down roughly by
Ling Fuquan as Grilled swarmed forward. Ling thought that he had escaped censure, as Guiga received treatment on the pitch, but referee Rodrigo Almanza turned back to flash the yellow at him as the Zambree player-coach was helped off.
Doughty Swiss fullback Caspar Froidevaux jogged in, but was certainly no Guiga as Zambree were forced on the back foot without the Brazilian's leadership at the back. New skipper Zuberbühler couldn't quite command so far removed from the action, and it was Zhu's turn to take advantage of an unready defender to swing in crosses. Chow smacked one in soon enough, after Wong could only turn it aside under pressure.
The travelling fans were now anticipating a cracker of a finish like that which rocked the Pot last weekend, but Zambree got the situation back under control, and claimed a second draw off Grilled.
