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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 57 | W | 5 - 4 | League | | Season 56 | W | 1 - 8 | Tournament (Group Phase) |
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Sizzling Into Semis
Filippone Wonderstrike
Grilled entered the last four of the Emerald Challenger Cup with another high-scoring extravaganza agaist Charis FC, who once more were disappointed despite breaching the Birds' defence four times.
Tian Yonghang exorcised the ghosts of his dismissal that time by guiding his team through a nervous last twenty minutes, that saw the tireless David Ternero threaten a recovery.
With this realistically being the participants' only path to silverware this term, the clubs had an incentive to take the match very seriously indeed. The biggest tactical decision hinged on Charis head coach Tronje Isegrimm's formation, and his teamsheet revealed a 4-4-2 rather than the 5-3-2 and 3-5-2 options, indicating a balanced approach.
If some thought this would presage a slow and steady buildup, however, they could not have been more mistaken. Grilled looked much peppier than they had in their weekend loss to QUT FC after reverting to their favourite lineup, with the width provided by
Wong Ping Shun and
Low Aik Jia now an integral part of the Birds' style. Wong went for it right from kick-off, and
Woon Shun An put Grilled ahead with his first touch of the game.
Many spectators were still streaming in when Wong nearly bagged a second after pouncing from a lazy giveaway from David Chauvet, but Charis FC would turn this to their advantage as they broke down their left flank after Chauvet recovered magnificently. Julio Humberto Comitini had acres of space to run into with no-one covering for Wong, and Ternero struck past the hapless
Krystian Rykowski, who just about maintained a brave face.
This wasn't shaping out to be a typical quarterfinals of a major cup competition, as Grilled dove forward with an almost frantic intensity.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim, perhaps mindful of his legacy, was covering more ground than he had during his teenage years, and all that movement was justified when he peeled clear of Asen Kodzhabashev in the tenth minute to retake the lead for Grilled.
Charis FC were no slouches down the wings either, and if Samuel Lazo Garcia was not quite as speedy as Low, he had a definite head up on him. 23 minutes in, Garcia proved that a strong knock-on was a potent weapon in its own right, as he powered a forward pass across the box to Peter Voipio, who like Ternero repeated his feat of scoring against Rykowski.
The breakneck tempo began to subside after this, as the teams appeared to settle for a temporary truce after the exhausting exchange. The opponents might not have held much of the ball, but they were getting clued in onto Grilled's attacking patterns, and there would be no further notable events until half-time.
The second half would kick off much like the first, as the Birds evidently figured that they had to score as soon as possible. In these circumstances, they like to turn to Low's unmatched explosiveness, which was just what happened in the 52nd minute as Low skinned Chauvet with a subtle shift in his balance. Mohd Safri was primed to follow up, and banged it in off Vino Purwanto's attempted block.
The contest was heating up all over again, and while Charis FC did pose some problems, largely through Ternero's assertiveness up top, Grilled would finally pull two clear through a nothing chance.
Low Aik Jia was in his element, but on this occasion his cross was badly hit.
Gene Filippone wasn't about to let it go just that that, however, and pulled a magical blind behind-the-back scuff with his heel that surprised everyone, even himself.
Low wasn't done yet, and he had Grilled supporters wonder why he has not featured in the league as a regular, after he once more made Charis FC's defenders look like slowpokes with a breakaway. This time,
Tian Yonghang staked out his spot a little behind the rest, and obligingly drilled it through the crowd to make it 5-2 for the Birds.
This might have seemed game, set and match, but with the Birds, one could never quite be sure; and lo and behold, their shakiness at the back revealed itself barely three minutes later, as
Lee Lee Hao gambled with an all-in tackle on the counterattacking Ang Leong Kum, which was only too easily avoided.
Gene Filippone delayed Ang as much as he could, but was undone when Erwin Pitra dashed straight by, picking up the ball, and put it in.
Ternero then got Charis FC back to within one in short order, and what was a simple shut-out job became a near-panic. It came to a head when Purwanto saved a subdued penalty from Wong turned into a full-fledged raid through the middle, and the Grilled fans in attendance could not have felt too confident as Voipio raced clear of
Zhao Jing Wei, and bore down on Rykowski.
The embattled Pole would finally rise to the occasion, though, and reacted with a top-class save off Voipio's effort aimed at the top corner. Zhao then arrived in the nick of time to help it on to Low, and after a few more intervening passes,
Tian Yonghang found the target from just inside the box - which led many in the stadium to realise that they had been holding their breath for a minutes.
At this restoration of a two-goal advantage,
Djan Bacelar thought it prudent to get
Ling Fuquan in for Lee to shore up the defence, and his fresh legs helped immensely in making the last ten minutes far more uneventful than the ten before those.
