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FIXTURE HISTORY |
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Season 78 | W | 0 - 2 | Friendly | Season 74 | W | 3 - 1 | Tournament (Playoffs) | Season 72 | W | 2 - 5 | Friendly | Season 71 | W | 3 - 2 | Friendly | Season 69 | W | 0 - 6 | Friendly |
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Same Old Buns
Gandhik Creating Waves
Grilled Birds and Farmer Bunnies had met in sanctioned play eight times before being drawn together in The Global Trophy, and today's 3-1 result for the Birds would both be identical to their latest tourney-rules exhibition eight seasons ago in outcome - and very similar in spirit besides. If anything, this contest suggested that it remained easier to ask questions by attacking, than answer them all on the defense.
The Birds had, of course, just knocked out an unlikely win against Fortuna Donabate, with the Bunnies' last game being their Challenger Cup loss on penalties to Padstow Pirates. Both head coaches had spared little for this meeting, the club's first in four years, with
Tian Yonghang and
Dalibor Kostadinović sharing a warm, long handshake before kick-off.
Grilled Birds wouldn't wait to press the action here, with most eyes on how Buns tyro
Ong Li Jing would deal with the Birds legends, and the answer appeared to be: not too well, for now.
Moey Xin Seng would give the seventeen year-old the slip almost cheekily, to guide a challenging header towards goal in the third minute.
Gilberto Sorondo seemed to have it covered, but there would still be a flicker of doubt as it skimmed off the bar.
Farmer Bunnies would hold firm for some twenty minutes after that initial scare, a relatively calm period which came to an end with
Gandhik Chitre's ambitious dribble against
Demitri Liu, which he might well have pulled off without Sorondo interfering with a feet-first challenge. The penalty appeal would be waved off, but Liu would be exposed fatally awhile later, as
Kalki Parvathaneni saw his opportunity. The veteran Number Twenty's strike was firm, as it flew low past Sorondo.
Chitre would not be denied on the Birds' next prolonged move, and if there had been any doubts about the youngster's striking instincts, they would have to be entirely dispelled by his conduct here. With Ong and
Sunil Patel seeking to catch him in a pincer, Chitre would face the former full-on with a little swivel, and dig out a shot of just sufficient power and accuracy to do the job. That was two-nil, Birds.
The Buns' own offensive responsibilities were being silently borne by
Vitaliy Efendiev, as so often is the case, and he would be called to chase down
Aw Keng Chuan on top of that in the 29th minute, from which he emerged with a booking for a late challenge. It would then go until the final few minutes of the half before more goalmouth action, with
Paulino Trindade setting it up on a plate for
Bilal Mohammad Harun, who was however taken unawares. The counter saw
Sunil Patel fire weakly at
Dimitris Germanakos following what looked like sneaky shirt-tugging at the right moment by
Gilbert Webb, which had Patel explode at the referee - and cop the game's second yellow card.
Patel and Webb evidently saw the funnier side of things as they marched off for the break, probably made the easier by this being an unofficial tournament anyway. There would be one change by each team for the second half, with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul entering for Kalki on the Birds' end, and
Mushtag Al-Nameeri for
Billy Camperio together with a switch to a 5-3-2, for the Buns.
This was a good tweak for Farmer Bunnies, given that they were never going to contest midfield anyway, and Mushtag's additional presence in the box would give Efendiev much more room to roam. The Kazakh forward made the most of it too, as he peeled away from
Bhavya Panigrahi, in tune with
Jerad Meyer getting past Trindade to deliver. It came in a bit behind Efendiev, but he would handle it with a neat stutter-step and angling of his trailing boot, to guide it gracefully past Germanakos.
That had the Buns back in the mix, and their wingers would start to look a lot more threatening than before, with there being a willingness to send it wide. This wound up being a bit of a stalemate with Baena and Trindade being no slouches themselves, and after Moey and Bilal's exits for Teo and Lim,
Wong Ting Yew's entrance for
Jerad Meyer wouldn't exactly help the Buns' cause. The 40 year-old former national star was a pale shadow of his old self, and only too easily corralled by Trindade.
Kostadinović would introduce another long-serving player in
Vishnu Tallapaka with two minutes remaining, perhaps in the hope that a free-kick going their way would allow Tallapaka to turn it all around, but it would instead be the Birds to be given a penalty in injury time.
Chan Ze Han would be only too openly blocked off by
Sunil Patel, and Panigrahi would bet on driving it down the middle this time - and it worked.