Back Is The Future
Dream Debut Double
Grilled preserved their undefeated run and signed themselves up for a qualifier against fifth-placed II.2 team Sunny Beach Boys, thanks to the predatory instinct of new signing
Erik Back. The Birds had travelled to Buggies World in Clementi intent on conserving their strength, but nearly ended up swooping all three points, as they have done more than once already this season.
Coach
Han Lik-Tsun's pledge to feature more youngsters ended up not materialising, as he went for a result to take into the all-important next game. Safrinho and Torsson remained on the bench, while the doubtful
Roberto Mausisa didn't recover in time and was in the stands.
Erik Back took Branbilla's place in central midfield, though, and looked as if he had always belonged there.
Even then, the Buggies gained the upper hand as Grilled tried to take the tempo down a notch, and invariably got hustled off the ball by the hardworking home side. The lack of legs in Grilled's midfield was cruelly exposed after Back and Dorogan surged up in support of a doomed attack, and Han Kok chased back ineffectually as the Buggies defence kicked it out to Itzhak Zeytuni.
The Israeli fullback had options to his left and right as the ball bounced towards him, only to decide to lash it first-time at goal with the defence backing off. The shot went close to Valdir, but such was its speed that the Brazilian goalkeeper barely moved a muscle as it blazed past him.
It wasn't looking good for the Birds as they couldn't hang on to the ball, with Buggies shifting it purposefully around the midfield. Grilled escaped several times thanks to poor final balls, and when
Erik Back received it in the 38th minute, no passing lanes were open. No matter, as the Luxembourg ex-youth international left both his markers for dead with an incredibly tight turn, before bursting forth into the penalty area and curling a wondergoal between Alexandru Petre and his near post.
If not for the sheer quality of that strike, Grilled would have in no way deserved to reach half-time on level terms. Back, who had just celebrated his thirty-first birthday yesterday, was duly mobbed by his teammates, who know a special goal when they see one.
That gave Grilled wings for the restart, and the visitors somehow had Buggies in retreat for the first part of the second half. There was a tense moment when
Quah Han Kok backheeled Alexandru Petre in the face without looking as he sought to flick on a corner, an act which knocked the Romanian keeper out cold. The Buggies players demanded a red card, but referee Harald Ritler waited for things to settle down, before giving a yellow due to the lack of intent.
Petre couldn't continue in any case, and Buggies had no choice but to put on their 41 year-old former forward Abdillah bin Sheikh Abu Bakar. This was a clear sign for Grilled to take potshots, and after a 70th minute double substitution sent Bögengang and Han Kok off for Torsson and Mourão,
Erik Back got his head onto a diagonal cross from Vukota to send the few thousand travelling fans into rapture.
An unlikely win stared Grilled in the face after seventy minutes of being dominated, as the contest devolved into one of sheer grit with players wilting under the temperature. Eulálio Tiago had to wander off for a drink as he looked completely dehydrated, while Back's lack of conditioning finally showed as he failed to catch up to a very reasonable through ball from Mourão.
The final ten minutes belonged to Buggies as
Han Lik-Tsun motioned for his exhausted charges to sit back and defend, and the home side got a late equaliser through Romanian hitman Serban Pãdure, who in the process secured the Golden Boot with his thirteenth league goal of the campaign.
