Santa Stopped
Chan's The Charm
It would be a right jolly rumble for Grilled Birds against Californian V.252 side Santa's Little Elves, who acquitted themselves well in spite of an indifferent league season. Their main strengths would be in midfield and especially wide, with former Bahraini U-20 star Labib Al Ansari and German wizard Domenik Reichwald, clear mismatches for
Chad Thach and
Enrique Baena respectively. French centre forward Hà Tuấn Anh was not half bad either, and with the rest of their midfield also about 22 years of age, an exciting future would seem to await this squad.
Against this, the Birds would offer up a mix of old and young, though mostly the former. The waning of their stamina would be only made more evident by the heat, however, and there would be much confusion amongst the Grilled midfield, as to how best to deal with the frequent interchanging of the Santa wingers. Thach and Baena would try to follow their man, but this only ended in disaster in the ninth minute, as Reichwald was left unattended on the right after one switch too many. Will Musgrave slyly let the ball run through, and it would be a simply finish for the winger after that.
It would hard not to compare
Aw Keng Chuan against Isai Vuong in this clash, what with the two playing very similar destroyer roles, and it would actually be Vuong who was the more impressive at it. This wouldn't stop the Birds from having their moments, that acknowledged, and
José Luiz Velho would force veteran custodian Dylan Winger to really stretch, with his rising shot in the 15th minute. The equalizer would however be
Teo Chuan Yong's in the 28th minute, created by
Moey Xin Seng twisting and turning into space on the left.
The Birds would lose themselves at that, to
Tian Yonghang's clear displeasure on the sidelines, as the Santas found themselves roundly outnumbering Grilled in their own third, after an attempt to rush in numbers went awry. Hà Tuấn Anh was clear once the defence failed to cut out a ball over the top, and he would take it around Germanakos for 2-1. On the other hand,
Gilbert Webb would stay strong, and even managed to time his advance perfectly some seven minutes later, as the Birds slowly threaded it up the middle.
Chan Ze Han appeared to have been barged out of the way illegally, but Webb pounced on the now-loose ball for a powerful blast into the net, to render the issue moot.
This had been well worth the cost of admission for the audience, and the second half continued in likewise rollicking fashion. With Santa playing wingbacks and daring the Birds to break their very high line, any opportunities won would have to be serious scoring chances, and
Chan Ze Han seemed certain to give his team the lead, when he broke the offside on the left in the 51st minute. 39 year-old skipper Matej Lugonjič retained deceptive speed over a distance, however, and was able to put Chan off right before he could shoot.
If Santa had an immediate response in the first half, Grilled would have one of them in the second. Labib Al Ansari had more than a few flashes of brilliance interspersed with barely-disguised showboating before, but this would be crowned by a quite magnificent dribble in the 57th minute, that took him past three defending Birds players before a provocatively-slow finish rolled to the far corner. The Grilled fans wouldn't need to dwell on it, however, as
Enrique Baena replied with a direct but no less effective dash from the get-go. The Spanish lad then took special pleasure in riling up the opposing support, which drew a talking-to by the referee.
Baena and Aw would then be subbed out for
Paulino Trindade and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul with twenty minutes left, as Grilled went for the kill - interestingly, despite not yet having taken the lead. They did seem the more dangerous side for a span as Santa's shape crumpled somewhat, but this proved to be a misdirection, as they then opened it up for Musgrave to get in for what appeared to be the winning goal, in the 77th minute.
The Birds would survive the final nail by sheer luck, as Domenik Reichwald passed up an open goal, after a hashed corner clearance several minutes later.
Hwang Teck Fu entered for Thach with five minutes remaining, but made no headway, as two minutes of added time were declared. Defeat seemed imminent... until
Chan Ze Han nicked it from Lugonjič with a do-or-die guess of the side to which the defender would turn, before finishing it by himself.
