Birds Bottle It
Subri Dismissed
With their fate in their own hands going into the final match of what could have been their most significant season ever, Grilled Birds disappointed their fans mightily as they could only battle to a draw at The Acidic City, home of Chemistry. An early exchange should have suited Grilled more than the hosts, but chances did not fall kindly for the Birds, and the loss of their only remaining striker in the crucial last quarter of an hour finished their hopes.
As
Maikel Rotteveel was suspended for this match, coach
Marcus Liehner was faced with the biggest decision of his managerial career - to stick to the usual 3-5-2 and place somebody like van Liere or even Hjortlind as Subri's partner, or to utilize the 4-5-1 with Subri as lone striker, and hope to dominate midfield. Chemistry's defence not being their selling point caused Liehner to lean towards the latter, and van Liere's indifferent form of late settled it.
The match began in a truly shocking fashion for Grilled, though - they had barely settled in when Remo Haafkens swung in a cross from very far out that somehow fell exactly such as to elude both Lik-Tsun and Talib's coverage. The three up front for Chemistry had opened just enough of a chink to allow Croatian striker Martin eleznik through, and to the delight of the Rollin' fans everywhere, eleznik deftly defeated Valdir with a crisp toepoke.
Now Grilled needed two, but the realisation had barely registered when it was back even. Spirig was not a designated winger, but he made enough trouble down the left side to pull Chemistry fullback Heng Chang Chin slightly out. Spirig's well-hit cross flew agonizingly past a lurching Subri, but
Lee Jie Siong had raced twenty metres in mere seconds to meet it head-on for a dramatic equaliser.
There was more hubbub to follow, as Chemistry nearly replied instantly from the kickoff. They held the ball in the center circle for a few moments as several players surged by Grilled's last men, and Qin Caen-Khim just about broke the offside trap with an incisive ball that was controlled by Niklasson. The veteran Swede whacked the ball hard at the top corner, leaving Valdir beaten for the second time, but not the crossbar.
News soon filtered through that Rollin' had garnered a two goal lead already, and any lingering wishes that Durian_picker would chip in with a favour dissipated. Grilled had most of the ball, but found it hard to get any serious attacking momentum going without their flying Dutchmen. There might have been something going when Quah found some space on the right, but with Subri tightly marked, all he could do was to force a yellow card from defender Zou Kai-Xi.
Quah was soon at it again, and this time an overlap from Talib provided the necessary support. The Pakistani defender couldn't contain his excitement at having a straight path to goal, however, and didn't even test Lantos with a tame strike that went wide. As could have been expected given the pattern of the game so far, Chemistry countered the very next minute with a dangerous foray by Shahrulnizam Ladzim against a weary-looking Bona, but Lik-Tsun got over in time to take the sting out of his attempt.
Grilled were not lacking in effort after the restart, but despite knowing full well that the title was theirs to lose in the next forty-five minutes, they could not obtain a purchase on the proceedings. Chemistry enjoyed the best chance when Paullin tripped eleznik right on the edge of his own penalty area, and eleznik bent the ensuing free-kick slightly too much.
Still, Grilled were finally beginning to gain the upper hand as their midfield wore down the opponent's gradually, but once cannot account for moments of madness such as that which possessed Subri. Already annoyed at his own teammates for poor service, the Malaysian finally lost his head and brusquely shoved a unprepared Oh Dong Tse to the ground after Oh had shepherded the ball out for a goal kick. The intent was clear, the force used excessive, and thus the punishment was undoubted - expulsion from the match.
Subri was about to compound his troubles by taking his shirt off and flinging it to the ground, but was stopped by Huel-sheng and bin Yaacob, who rushed off the bench and escorted him down the tunnel. There was no mistaking the disgust on some of his teammate's faces, though. Captain Han then tried to win it all as he was placed correctly to take a potshot three minutes later, but Lantos pulled off a defining save to ensure that there would be no Grilled hero today.
