Done By Dodogado
Seytek Sent Off
It has been an extremely poor week for the Birds, who slumped to their fourth straight defeat in all competitions, as they bowed out of the SG Super Cup with a damp splutter. Even the Chicken Wings were not spared as they lost 2-1 to unfancied Jeon Ji Hyun FC on Sunday, and Dodogado will advance to the semi-finals on the strength of this tidy 4-1 win.
Grilled returned to a 2-5-3 after the defensive hullaboo that marked their league loss against Shining Lights, but would do none the better as their far steadier opponents rung up a three-goal lead after barely more than half an hour. Henrique Ávila was the creator, bashing down the right, and his stiff low cross was turned in by left winger Florentino Canelas with six minutes gone.
Niculae Stanca's experiment with an interchanging front six wasn't going too well with the players involved taking it too far, as happened when nobody remembered to stay back in the 15th minute. Dodogado central midfielder Dong Rongyong was on the verge of breaking away, when
Zhu Changchun launched himself into an ill-advised challenge that he was lucky to escape with a yellow card for.
It was not all gloom for Grilled as
Tian Yonghang again showed his taste for tournament football, all the more so after having been dropped against Lights; the sprightly 23 year-old teased the opposition defence ceaselessly, and would have popped up to get an equaliser had Thomi Risser not gotten away with a tackle from the back in the 19th minute.
Match official He Bian was not interested in Tian's claims for a penalty, and Dodogado were not either as they moved the ball at speed through the middle, with Grilled's midfield again missing. German forward Dirk Mayer-Berg then showed the Birds how attacking from deep should be done, as he stepped to the inside of
Qassem Madaini before shooting hard for 2-0.
It was all over after Dodogado worked a clever free-kick wide to Romanian out-and-out striker Toader-Vasile Ciobanu, who made it five for the tournament with a strike in mid-stride. Grilled did not look like turning things around at all, and claimed nothing but a booking for Dong for what seemed like a tit-for-tat intentional collision with Zhu.
The Birds did up their game for the second half, and
Seytek Djekshenkulov, suspended against Phantasm Hotspurs after collecting a third yellow for the season against Lights, pulled one back with a solid finish two minutes after the restart.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim got the assist with a quick sideways pass after two defenders converged on him.
There were brief hopes of a comeback as Risser looked slightly out of his depth as his movement became laboured, and
Chow Ying Lee ran by him only to have his strike deflected by Leo Wapernaar in goal. The big Dutch keeper had an excellent outing, denying a likely goal by
lu Zunwen five minutes later purely by reflex.
Canelas then threatened to get a second on the counter, but it was
Dexter Stacey's turn to show his class with a wonderful leap after closing the distance. Chow then put up a dangerous high boot that nearly took the face off Arjen van Voorn, for which He thought about before letting Chow off with a yellow.
He seemed resolved not to use his red card, as he punished a very late tackle by
Lin Jungui with only the penalty kick, which Hu Erjiang scored with authority in the 82nd minute. However, there was nothing to be done when Djekshenkulov shoved Lokman Esenboğa to the grass as the tension between the two finally came to a head, though it would be of no consequence as Grilled were out of it before the starting whistle anyway.
