Mettle Against Mattis
Wong Makes Right
The Birds emerged victorious in their must-win Champions League tournament game against Swedish Division III club FC Mattis, also known as Rövarna. An early exit loomed as the opposition hung on to a well-worked lead with less than twenty minutes remaining, but then
Wong Ping Shun marked his return with two top-class finishes, and
Tian Yonghang mopped up to add gloss to the scoreline.
With anything less than three points almost assuredly leaving them out of the knockout stages, Grilled were not taking any chances with their lineup, which saw
Clément Meyer in the middle and
Low Aik Jia wide left.
Ling Fuquan had established himself as clear first-choice in defence, but with his suspension, the 33 year-old
Rashid bin Ahmad started.
FC Mattis switched it up from the 3-5-2 that had put Osloveien Kickers FC to the sword, shifting the usually right-biased Niklas Matsson to the centre as their lone front man, and sacrificing forward Walter Gullholt for additional defensive heft.
Mattias Flodén's tactical decision served them well to begin with, as Grilled toiled at finding their beat as usual. Their forwards still understood each other as few did, but their physical limitations were beginning to show. This resulted in a number of rapid turnabouts from the Swedes, and Lasse Everdahl would only be kept from scoring by
Wong Tian Han's quick hands.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim's primal instincts remained sharp, even if his athleticism was not what it once was, and he found Kim Enelund out with a dink over the top, with his back to goal. That would be it for the first-half, with
Wong Ping Shun's blazing free-kick that shaved the bar the only other attempt that came close, from either team.
It then threatened to be more of the same for the Birds, after
Low Aik Jia flattered to deceive with a wasteful wayward toepoke after finally outpacing Ricardo Treviño on the left. Though they had not been active in Grilled's half for some time, FC Mattis made it count when they were, with Anders Fredriksson catching Lasse Everdahl's strongly-bending cross on the fly to level the score.
Club legend Kavyan Sanchouli, currently on 130 goals in as many games, was then withdrawn in the 70th minute for Niklas Matsson, who made an immediate impact. With his very first touch, the newcomer put FC Mattis ahead from another fine ball that Everdahl hit under pressure from
Woon Shun An, to the dejection of the Birds support.
This didn't last long at least, thanks to
Wong Ping Shun. Wong had made the right wing spot his with his oft-understated versatility and robustness, and this was only too apparent when he mixed things up by storming the centre in the 74th minute. The opposition defence was already fully occupied, and had no answer to Wong's tremendous power, which he kept under control this time.
Gene Filippone was put on for
Rashid bin Ahmad as Grilled chased an outright win, and it was FC Mattis's turn to be rocked. Their backline stumbled just as the Birds' forwards discovered their groove, though it would be
Wong Ping Shun who would kickstart their incredible revival. Filippone made full use of his fresh legs to advance up the right and pump in a short cross, which Wong crashed spectacularly into the back of the net on the volley.
FC Mattis attempted to at least preserve the draw, but wound up getting bitten by one of Grilled's own deceptively-efficient counters. Niklas Matsson was mugged waiting for help to arrive, and
Lee Lee Hao sent it straight down to
Tian Yonghang, who drew Enelund out before slotting it home. Tian then made it 5-2 with a lucky header unwittingly helped on by Olivier Charrier, but it made no difference to the bigger picture anyhow.