Bogged On The Beach
Valdir To Thank
The Sentosa sonics gave the Birds a hard time at the PoKeMoN BaTtLe StAdIuM, and were arguably good value for what would have been only their second league win of the season. Grilled however held out to the end, and Bögengang's penalty goal would prove enough for them to claim a share of the points.
Grilled arrived with a largely unchanged lineup, save for
Safri bin Mohamad making only his second league start, likely in recognition of his national U-20 debut.
Chow Ying Lee, whom he replaced, appeared satisfied enough, understandable given that he had just been recalled to the U-20 squad too.
The hosts had endured a rather dismal run, with six straight defeats since their victory in the Cup against Tele Fone FC a month and a half ago. However, they were likely hard done by in at least a few of those games, and many insiders gave them a good chance against an average-looking Grilled midfield.
Sentosa indeed wound up orchestrating the pace of the game, but all their good work seemed to come to naught when Lefébure teed the ball up into Beccani's hand in the eleventh minute. There was little that the Italian leftback could have done about it, but referee Luciano Aalbers immediately pointed to the spot over his protests, and Bögengang struck it in easily.
Lady Luck shifted her allegiance soon enough, and Grilled were caught napping on the restart, with
Ronny Behr slipping in his attempt to cut out a wide pass, and Sentosa's centreback Frédéric Menzinger exhibited surprising dexterity to throw
Vukota Crkvenjakov off. Valdir probably still had it covered, but for a huge deflection off Vukota's boot that looped it over the despairing goalie.
Menzinger was far from done, and could have helped put his side in front after a sweeping move down the left flank saw him with time to measure a cross. Both Marszelewski and Grau were in a position to challenge for the ball, and only a brave leap by Behr kept them from enjoying a free header. Pinedo followed up with a shot that was barely blocked by
Kyou-Chull Kim.
Although Grilled had looked to Safrinho's high spirits to provide their attack with a shot in the arm, the young forward appeared not to have fully recovered from his exertions on Friday, and wilted in the scorching afternoon sun after harrying one too many times. Han decided to keep him on, however, and instead put
Anders Josefsson and
Ciro Penati on for
Kyou-Chull Kim and
Erik Back.
The game then burst into life as Florestan Grau lunged at a half-chance and sent it inches wide of the post, before
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim went one better after Valdir quickly booted the ball back up, sounding the crossbar after working his way through Sentosa's defence. Things then got ugly as Behr crashed into Sentosa's Mexican goalkeeper Roberto Gaona as the two went for the rebound, and Gaona had to be stretchered off as Behr got off with a yellow card. Impressively, it was Behr's first booking in 43 appearances.
Grilled were fortunate to survive Sentosa's onslaught after that, and had it not been for Valdir's goalkeeping skills, they could have gone two down as Antti Savitaipale and Florestan Grau both had one-on-ones with him. Losing the creative Gabrijel Perović to injury late on staunched their flow somewhat, however, and the Birds were happy enough to ride out the final few minutes for a draw.
