Maker Met
Doku Does It
Grilled Birds slipped up in the September Tournament after their important league victory against Controlar, with Belgian VI.940 leaders Meet Your Maker counterattacking their way to a 2-1 result.
Chia Kwang Tse replaced
Lim An Keng in an otherwise unchanged setup from Sunday, and the exertions told against an MYM that had it rather easier against K.E. De Haan.
Rightback Divock Origi had scored a brace for them then, and would feature again with MYM keeping to a defensive 5-3-2 that kept their forwards hanging out wide for balls down the channels. This would give the Birds quire a bit of warning before any true threats could be mustered, but the weight of bodies at the back limited Grilled's chances too.
Joe Reece would be put through by
Chad Thach's defence-splitting pass in the 23rd minute from nothing, but crashed his powerful drive back off the crossbar.
This would be by far the biggest chance of the half, and despite some cheeky dribbles by Kevin de Bruyne against a rusty Chia, MYM were just not creating all that much. Chia would register his displeasure with penetration through the middle in the 35th, but pulled his grounder wide. Origi would then be booked after multiple fouls on
Enrique Baena, which had
Phua Ming Xin test Thibaut Courtois after a long wait for the match to be resumed.
The first half would end with a couple of underdeveloped breakaways from MYM, who did not get nearly enough options upfield on either of them. Niki Larsson would be forced back outside by
Federico Parada after initially having the beating of the Bolivian in the 42nd minute, with Vincent Kompany doing marginally better by getting his strike off two minutes later, even if it only found the side netting.
Grilled responded to the goalless state of the game with a double sub, with
Gandhik Chitre and
Lim An Keng giving their midfield a whole different look, after coming on for Thach and Chia respectively. It was certainly sharper with its distribution, with
Orest Tokarz the main beneficiary. The numbers were just too much for the Pole, sadly, and he would not try hard enough to stay on his feet to convince the referee, after going down on contact with Courtois in the 64th.
He should perhaps not have complained either, as MYM pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book by playing to the whistle. With Baena also out of position after hitting the touchline by the cross, it was left to
Damian Hutter to defend a two-on-one, which concluded when De Bruyne cut it hard across goal towards Eden Hazard. The 18 year-old forward had quite a bit to do given the pace on the cross, but managed just the correct touch to cushion it into the far post... and into goal.
Hutter would have his revenge within four minutes, as Grilled were allowed to camp way inside the MYM half, as the Belgians sought to protect their lead. This became a corner as Reece smashed a wild effort off Alderweireld and behind, and Parada's hanging delivery would be flicked on by
Gandhik Chitre. Most of the players had no idea where it was going, but Hutter kept his eyes on the ball, and his blindly-hit drive would find the net.
That would do it for the Birds as they cranked up the pressure with their opponents seemingly deflated, but great opportunities for Tokarz, Phua and Marzuki eventually came to naught. That last would be what MYM were waiting for, and all went just right for them as De Bruyne combined with Origi on the right, to devastating impact. Jeremy Doku was waiting to pounce, and did so with a brilliant diving header to win it.
