Islanders Sunk
Tian Reaps Reward
The Birds predictably used the midweek Cup game to repair some of their tattered confidence after being mauled by CharlesCheesePie, but it was anything but a vintage display as they huffed and puffed to a relatively modest five-nil scoreline against the semi-professional side Sentosa Islanders.
There has been talk that
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim had taken Chow's arrival as a threat to his status within the side, and the striker sent a message in the most direct way open to him. In just the second minute, he rampaged through the defence to boot the ball past Sentosa's 55 year-old goalie Moy Jin-Han.
The hosts had their moments, as when midfielder Isa Ansori Mahmood nutmegged Kim in midfield, but understandably didn't overstretch themselves, and camped in their own half. Josefsson being tripped on a late ghosting run into the box won Grilled a penalty, which Mohd Firdaus handily dispatched.
A jumpy Tian, who was making only his first competitive start, made too many niggly fouls for the referee to ignore, and was finally cautioned in the 14th minute. Josefsson then had a conservative shot stopped on the line, before Mohd Safri proved that he was fallible when he failed to control a ball thrown right at him by the opposition keeper.
While Grilled controlled the match well enough, the forwards found themselves poorly coordinated, and they could only increase their lead by one, through
Ângelo Cunha Simões' power-packed strike, before the half-time whistle went.
Back and captain-for-the-day Kim were substituted with Quah and Mourão after sixty minutes, who injected some urgency into Grilled's game. This led to a brave charge by Mourão down to the left flank, where he lifted a peach of a cross into the six-yard box. Although plenty of defenders clamoured for it, Mohd Firdaus had picked his position well, and bundled it across the line.
Although Simões and Tian relished the chance to play a full match, it was apparent that their fitness was not quite up to such a demand yet, which resulted in some sloppy acts by the duo. Simões in particular had no reason to unleash such a dangerous tackle on Yi-min in the 81st minute, and it was only through sheer luck that the Islanders defender was not seriously hurt. The Portugeuse forward accepted his booking without complaint.
There would be another goal for Grilled as
Tian Yonghang summoned up his last scraps of endurance to reach a forward pass from Quah in the dying minutes. The 18 year-old displayed excellent balance to remain on his feet after being clipped by Moy, and was rewarded by getting on the scoresheet on his full debut.
