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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 84 | L | 0 - 6 | Tournament (Group Phase) |
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Return To The Mundane
Gibson Strings It Together
As entirely expected, Grilled Birds were no match for Surrey English Premier side Red N Blue Return, and the final six-goal deficit might be considered as a fair showing for the Singapore Division Three climbers. Burly veteran forward Gary Gibson showed how it was done with a hat-trick almost too simple in its execution, as Return breezed through from start to end.
Having just regular tamed leaguemates Mikeys World of Pessimism 3-1 with Gibson also opening, there was no logical rationale as to why the Birds could prevail against the giants today, all the more with their monstrous midfield consisting of former English international Dennis Barkley, a Richard Hubbard with eighteen caps at youth level, and last but hardly least, aerial specialist Billy Tuckfield. There would be some hiccups to begin with, granted, as Gibson flattened
Damian Hutter in his eagerness to reach the ball after Brian Rodansky's free-kick in the eighth minute, which got him a rather soft yellow card.
There remained little doubt as to how this was going to turn out, though, with the Returners pulling all the strings in midfield. This meant consistent service for their two main men, and the three goals that they scored before half-time were already a modest return on all the chances created. Gibson had the first taste as he baited both Grilled central defenders in the 23rd minute before finding the bottom right corner exactly, and it would be strike partner Calum Chipperfield next in the 34th, as
Aw Keng Chuan lost it under heavy pressure.
Not much to grouse about the third with Eoin Cavendish and Daniel Crusher executing some incredibly-precise short interplay as they made mincemeat of Grilled's left-side defence, which was a foregone conclusion once Cavendish found Gibson waiting in the middle. Grilled would bounce back weakly from that, cobbling together a brazen run down the left, but
Joe Reece's finish wasn't enough to beat the still-limber Shaun Hillier.
Chia Kwang Tse did his best to keep the momentum going, but went overboard with his hands on being boxed out of an incoming free-kick, and was booked.
The second half had
Chan Ze Han out as his experience found little application in the first half, with
Tian Yonghang going for the obvious - and more sensible - option of
Orest Tokarz to harass. Chan had a long chat with
Federico Parada before handing over the armband, but whatever his advice was, it didn't matter much. Grilled would be four down within five minutes with Return still dominating, as Cavendish flashed past all on the right side to sidefoot it in.
It was a reflection of the English club's technical superiority that all these goals were quite straightforward in their final execution, as the young Birds midfield saw their prior confidence ebb away. Accustomed to having much more of the ball, the likes of
Chad Thach and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul found themselves sorely lacking without it. Chia was perhaps the most affected, however, and he would finally lose control in slamming the ball against the advertising hoardings after another call went against him, which was a second yellow.
Now down to ten, Grilled's only mission had to be how to save face by limiting the damage, although Gary Gibson was not prepared to be cooperative on that. He would complete his hat-trick on the very next attack, with both
Aw Keng Chuan and
Damian Hutter loathe to commit themselves on his incisive dribble. It was looking very bad as Dennis Barkley upped it to six just four minutes on, and for once there was the sniff of fortune in the getting, as his header appeared to take a small deflection off Marzuki's attempted block.
Well, Parada's leadership was not making too much of a difference, and
Enrique Baena would take over for the final twenty minutes with Tian's blessing. The Birds did pick up a little from there, although how much of their upswing was down to the Returners showing mercy, remained an open question.
Orest Tokarz created Grilled's best shot at a consolation in the 74th minute as he impressively busted his way through three defenders, showing shades of Gibson's style, but he would be eventually driven wide and shut down - perhaps summarizing the distinction between the teams today.
