A Queue For Six
Bhavya Young As Well
Grilled Birds rebounded from their opening day setback with an easy-going 6-0 result at Tanglin's Ocean's 1q; Ocean's had done very well to promote from the fifth division to the third despite having reverted to being a semi-professional outfit after their last revival some eight seasons ago, and today made it doubly clear that there was only so much head coach Zach Tsai could do, after they had lost to Mayuyu by the same margin last week.
The 40 year-old Tsai didn't have too much to work with, with probably his best player - 33 year-old personal trainer-turned-forward Jonny Wan - himself a perennial reject from local pro clubs. Strike partner Gan Min Ze was in a similar boat, but they at least didn't keep that from having them win several lower league titles. 21 year-old goalkeeper Jeff Lee also had to deserve some recognition for his courage, in sticking with what was likely a lost cause.
His clean sheet would not last two minutes, as
Chan Ze Han popped up with a reminder of the gulf that existed between the hosts and himself. Both Slater Hirata and Thong Tze Kuan were left crowding the former national youth player ineffectually, as Chan expertly manipulated his body between them and the ball on his sleek dribble at Lee's goal. Right before the stadium clock advanced to the third minute, Chan had it bulging the back of the net, with a curler placed faultlessly to the far post.
The rest of the Grilled players were hardly as untouchable, and
Bhavya Panigrahi revealed some very human failings, when he copped an early yellow card for holding Prakash Dasari back, soon after Ocean's kick-off.
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan then mourned another failure to open his goal account, as he barrelled his seventh-minute attempt from Kalki's excellent low cross right into Lee, but there would be a penalty given as referee Jordi Ramon Altimis spotted a hand into Ferzan's face, as he took the shot. This was Panigrahi's, and the 38 year-old veteran knocked it just about right.
Ferzan's pains would not be over, as he would have to spend some minutes recovering on the side of the field, as his left ankle swelled up after a tangle with Loganathan Bhupathi entering the thirteenth minute. The Birds were doing quite well regardless, although Ocean's 1q protected their goal successfully for a period, courtesy of much tracking back by their midfield. That ended with
Kalki Parvathaneni pouncing on a miscontrolled ball by Liu Pin Feng in the 32nd minute, however, and the indefatigable forward would polish it off by himself, despite Chan's supporting run.
Chan was hardly going to complain about that, and claimed his second goal by himself a couple of minutes later, with
Enrique Baena responsible for getting it to him. The Birds didn't slack off at that either, and the restart had them swiftly win another free-kick about forty yards out, with Hirata ending
Aw Keng Chuan's advance prematurely. If that was a little far for a direct effort, it wasn't for Panigrahi to find
Lim An Keng with a precise delivery, and the youngster wouldn't disappoint with his eager finish for 5-0.
If Ocean's could take anything from this game, it would be their marked improvement for the second half.
Chia Kwang Tse came on to a much more belligerent Ocean's side, and the Birds would barely get a sniff on goal for the next twenty minutes or thereabouts, a wholesale turnaround from the previous half. This spell was broken with Aw's strike from the left side of the box in the 66th minute, but Jeff Lee won applause with a neat fingertip save then.
Indeed, it took another penalty to get it past Lee one final time, as
Lim An Keng went to ground following contact from Dasari, which however seemed like it began just outside the penalty area. Panigrahi would thump it into the top left corner, but there could be no faulting Lee, who even went the right way. Seven minutes later, the Ocean's goalie would shine again, as he punched
Enrique Baena's spectacular diving header aside, to the Spaniard's agony.
Panigrahi's hopes for a hat-trick came to an end as he was taken off for
Gilbert Webb in the 80th, in a double substitution that also saw
Moey Xin Seng leave for
Bilal Mohammad Harun. The shakeup saw the hosts create their only real chance of the match, with Thong drawing two Grilled players with him after drifting inside, before somehow kicking it out to 18 year-old forward Maheswaran Shasthri. Shasthri snatched at the shot and sent it hopelessly high and wide, sadly, leaving him to drop to the grass with head in hands.
There wasn't time for the hosts to dwell on it, as the largely-untested
Dimitris Germanakos powered this rare goal-kick long to the right, where it was retrieved with some effort by a racing Ferzan. The Turkish winger made good speed up the flanks, and managed to get it to
Lim An Keng for a snap attempt from the edge of the box. It was creeping in too, but for Liu Pin Feng's helping out at the post.
