Carson's Call Answered
Prospective Grilled Birds winger Carson Choe got his chance with Romanian VI.585 club Why? Because! today, as the 17 year-old left on a free transfer. Able to fill in as an attacking wingback, or even a sitting midfielder in a pinch, Choe's versatility even at sixteen had won him an offer from scout Lim Hock Puay, who repeated his endorsement. "Carson has a great attitude to go with his straight-ahead style on the wing. A little more initiative, and you can hardly find a better wingman at his age."
There would also be a mass culling of Bunnies trainees, with goalkeeper Ng Woon Yeng, defenders Gopalakrishnan George, Tejas Ponnusamy, Wardi Irfan Hisham and Zainuddin Abdul Wahab Rida, midfielders Anil Ekbote and Raoof Izzudin, and wingers Chow Yong Yi and Shankar Gangireddy all running our their final temporary contract extensions. Assistant coach Li Aik Meng bemoaned the cull, especially in the case of Ponnusamy, who had exhibited such promise when first recruited. "Competition's just too fierce these days."
There would be good news for a few at least, with 17 year-old custodian
Tan Su given a professional contract, together with strikers
Edwin Bolton and
Boyd Nguyen, who are 18 and 20 years of age respectively. Tan will become one of
Gilberto Sorondo's reserve options with current backups
Arvind Shah and
Gabriel Luke both the wrong side of thirty, and should have a long if not exactly overly exciting career here in this role, if it goes according to history.
As for Bolton and Nguyen, the Buns have been short on forwards with internationals Ibrahim Zahran Al-Maashany and Mushtag Al-Nameeri retiring at the end of last season. While neither are expected to feature much with
Vishnu Tallapaka preferring a strikerless 5-5-0 nowadays, the duo should provide him with adequate bodies, as circumstances insist.
This was an emotional promotion for
Boyd Nguyen, who had been toiling away for several seasons training part-time with the reserve team, various other neighbourhood teams and even back with the Rancher Rabbits, as he waited for the slim chance of a call-up to the senior squad. "He's put in the work, and we can always use some honest pace from the bench." Tallapaka said. "Effort does pay off, sometimes!"
