Out For The Clam
Noubaryan Nightmare
If Grilled were seeking some assurance that Georgian reserve custodian
Hovaness Noubaryan would be able to make the step up and hold the fort till Canadian regular
Dexter Stacey returns from injury, they did not get any of that today as the Birds were dumped out of the SG Super Cup V tournament by Scallop Soccer Team, who qualified for the knockout round as a result, aided by two penalties.
Stanca admitted considering sticking with Grilled's usual three-pronged strikeforce, but had a change of heart and decided to try and compensate for the loss of Stacey's intimidating influence with an additional defender, sacrificing tournament scoring leader
Chow Ying Lee. This evidently did not work, but Grilled didn't start too badly at all, with plenty of zest being shown in midfield.
Zhu Changchun was booked in only the fourth minute for harassing Lee Ze Shi too openly, but this led directly to an unexpected break through the centre, which ended after
lu Zunwen crashed a ferocious effort from just outside the box that mowed the grass before disappearing wide of the upright.
Noubaryan was barely tested at this stage, but wound up failing at the first hurdle. Scallop obtained a free-kick at an innocuous position that Dutch birthday boy Melvin Kaanis pumped into the six-yard box. Hovaness tried to throw himself onto it, but was blocked off by several bodies, and the snappy Tuval Machnes wasted no time in poking the ball by him.
It would get better for Kaanis and worse for Noubaryan, though this time it was not the latter's fault. Actually, it wasn't anyone's really as referee Liberty Rose insisted that Madaini had handled while on the ground, though the Grilled captain knew nothing about it, and Kaanis easily sent Noubaryan the wrong way on the ensuing penalty.
Grilled were not without their own chances, but Scallop were resolute in defence with German wingback Frank Beyerlein clearing expertly off the line after
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim had gotten off a shot that went past his goalie.
Woon Shun An courted a red with a full-blooded challenge the next minute, which was followed by Alex Papp hitting the target with a grounder that Noubaryan really should have gotten a hand onto.
The Grilled players were glum to a man at half-time, with Noubaryan barely raising his head as he was first down the tunnel. Nothing could be done as with the departure of Alvero Silvera, the next in line to take up the gloves would be defender
Hilal Bakhtiar, and that was unlikely to provide much improvement.
The Birds' faint hopes of a recovery were put paid to after Rose awarded yet another penalty to Scallop, though this had more merit with
Abdul bin Jantan getting a foot into the path of Machnes as he wriggled by. Kaanis picked the same corner again, as a clearly jittery Noubaryan chose to stand his ground and could only watch it go in.
Stanca went for the substitution that the Grilled fans had been baying for, sending
Chow Ying Lee for the lad to try and make himself a saviour, but the situation was probably beyond even higher powers. Machnes made it five to nothing after Madaini and Noubaryan messed up a routine back-pass, which triggered
Shiya Shaahee's entry for bin Jantan.
No dice, as the immediate response was a second yellow for
Zhu Changchun, whose exasperation finally came to a head with a poorly-considered high kick dangerously close to Yap Yew Seng's face. The Birds were denied even the solace of a consolation as Arnaud Buijsert put in a magical save off Chow, before Lee Ze Shi rubbed it in by interception Noubaryan's panicked throw and making it six.
