Double Happiness
Grilled Birds' and Farmer Bunnies' second joint end-of-season banquet had glamour added by the presence of the three trophies they collected in an indubitably successful season, with the Ruby Challenger Cup taking pride of place in between the Division Two and Division Four league winner ones.
Though there was still the little matter of Bunnies' qualification match, the club clearly didn't think it a good reason to postpone the event, though several probable starters took pains to avoid gorging themselves through the seven-course dinner.
Voting for Player of the Season was extremely straightforward this time, with two Golden Boot awardees putting themselves forward. Birds skipper
Tian Yonghang was a near-unanimous selection for only his second such honour, after becoming league top scorer by a landslide seven goals more than runner-up
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim.
For the Bunnies, 23 year-old Greek target man
Ermis Ftenopoulos edged in just ahead of Le Faux Pas W Cup's Cheung Wee De, bringing back memories of how
Tim Hobson led Grilled through their teething pains with his tireless winning of the ball up top. Popular American midfielder
Ron Murrell got a few shouts, but nowhere near enough to challenge.
While the Birds are clearly a bigger club than the Bunnies, the same cannot be said half as confidently for their youth teams, with observers largely of the opinion that the Wings are at their thinnest for a while, talent-wise. Number Thirteen Foo Xin Chao was the pick of the bunch, thanks to his consistent assured presence in midfield.
For the Rabbits, there have been whispers that a senior dressing room spot has already been saved for Tham Leng Teck, but he didn't get the Young Player accolade as the judges cast their gaze over the main squad. In the end, the surprise choice was
Marcus Tsum, who combined good old hard work with some flashes of brillance. The former Dodogado trainee was honestly not expecting that, but accepted it in good grace.
After all that,
Djan Bacelar began his much-awaited speech by thanking departing form coach Soo Yeow Wen for a job well done. "Soo's experience really shone through, but he's up for retirement, as we well knew when we hired him. Dudley Co will be taking over, and I have got to say that his credentials are impeccable."
"We'll need every edge we can get on our return to the S-League..." - here, Bacelar milked the moment for all it was worth, as the hall went berserk - "...and I'm sure that the players will give it their all. All of us have waited for this, and boy, will we give it a go!"
