Nearly Frozen
Spirig Saviour
Grilled Birds squeaked into their fifth Singapore Cup semifinal by outlasting Division Three Snowman Athletic, whom never let their visitors hold on to a lead in this seesawing battle. Athletic had racked up eleven victories in a row before crashing spectacularly to Twenty2 FC on Sunday, but that was a clear conservation of resources for the quarterfinal challenge, which unfortunately for their fans, was not nearly enough.
The counterattacking technique that had seen Grilled in such good stead paid off yet again, as Athletic pushed forward with disarming candour in the opening stages. That meant they were unprepared when Sid scrambled a clearance away, and Han Kok burst free not far from and raced unopposed to deposit the ball beyond former HaTT goalie Li Sun Tae.
Estonian striker Ott Tihkan craftily levelled in the 31st minute, as he made a creative zigzagging run across the penalty area that none of the Grilled defenders managed to read. He wound up picking the pocket of Talib who was looking for an outlet to pass the ball to, and skimmed a goal past Valdir before the goalie had time to reposition himself.
Grilled promptly hit back through
John MacKinnon, this time after a long series of passes that appeared destined to reach one of the forwards. The strong Scottish midfielder decided to have a go at it when the ball landed in front of him, and would not regret it as his tremendous effort just eluded the fingertips of Li.
Thus Grilled took a 2-1 lead into halftime, but Snowman Athletic carried on with their offence and equalised again through Ott Tihkan. Talib, who had been having a poor day, was outpaced by German winger Sascha Loesmann, who put in a tasty cross that Tihkan devoured. Edmond responded in like fashion three minutes later when he burned past equally burly leftback Alfred Eltschinger, and Subri was there for Grilled to squeeze it in at the near post.
That was not the end of the game, as the hosts caught up for a third time. Simão Marante found himself far from his usual rightback position when Ollagnier spearheaded a sudden rush up the left flank, but he found the energy to dutifully follow up, and became the beneficiary when Ollagnier's skill brought him past two defenders to leave Marante a lot of goal to shoot at.
Physical play became prevalent as the match hung precariously in the balance, with Rotteveel pitching in with a ill-timed tackle that will see him banned from the coming league game. Latest goalscorer Marante was no shrinking violet either, as he got in a swing at Sid's knee in a vigourous tussle for possession that saw him booked too.
Just as extra time appeared unavoidable,
Dani Spirig popped up as the Grilled matchwinner, as he made enough space for himself at the head of the Athletic penalty area to curl a grounder into the bottom right corner, inches out of Li's reach.
