Two's A Crowd
With neither club having too much to rejoice about, the seasonal concluding function was set as a small affair at Carrot Field, which saw some of the Grilled squad make their first trip to the small but tidy clubhouse.
Much of the preliminaries were dedicated to retiring Number Seven
Abdul bin Jantan, the hometown boy made good who returned to Grilled at 26 after learning his trade in Austria with Villach United, plus a couple of months in France. Normally a man of few words, Abdul recounted his thirteen seasons here with evident relish.
"I've been keeping fit all along, with extra effort these few weeks." the 39 year-old said. "Won't do to be out of shape at your own testimonial, would it?"
Djan Bacelar confirmed that he would be seeking to offload several regulars to make space, and while he remained tight-lipped on the specifics, it has become common knowledge from the rumour mills that
Zhu Changchun,
Woon Shun An and
Chow Ying Lee have been putting feelers out on a move.
Though plenty more could join them, one man who will certainly be staying is
Tian Yonghang, who snagged a record fourth Player of the Season award, and his second in a row. There were few other plausible candidates in a regrettably flat campaign, but Tian admitted that he would have gladly given it up for another shot at the S-League.
"That penalty miss still plays in my mind before bed." he admitted.
It was a lot less clear who would be encouraged with the youth version, but the relatively-unheralded Tan Kang Seng would eventually gain the nod over the Wings' undisputed new hope, Moey Xin Seng. Tan's scout and mentor Mok Feng De dropped hints that he was a more complete winger than Mok at this point, but admitted that his age and lack of a killer edge could hold him back.
"He needs to be more assertive, allow himself to be unleashed sometimes." Mok advised. "If he finds the right club, he can have a very bright future."
There was an unexpected first by the Farmer Bunnies, as
Elias van Dal declared that
Sikong Darong and
Enzo Paolo Panzarino would share Player of the Year accolades, something that had never happened in either club's history. Objectively, however, it was easy to understand why it was so.
"On one hand, you've got a 21-goal Golden Boot winner that has revitalized our attack - well, he was often the whole attack - and on the other, you have a veteran midfield general who was far and away the most influential player on the pitch in most of his matches, and that's no exaggeration." van Dal explained.
"We could find absolutely nothing between them, and yet it would have been a travesty had either not been recognized. So, here we are."
The field for the Bunnies' Young Player of the Season was by some distance the deepest, with plenty of squad players potentially worthy winners, and it was a testament to just how impressive Ong Kok Long had been for the Rancher Rabbits, that he was selected.
Ong hasn't found the going particularly easy with Fossil5, having yet to make his official debut and only recently scoring his first senior-level goal in a friendly against Childish Chiefs Club, but from his taped acceptance message, the lad is definitely living it up in Germany.
