Brutal Letdown
Zubir Gains Draw
The Birds missed a golden opportunity to keep the pressure up on league leaders Arrogancae, as they were held to a 2-2 draw at The Cooking Pot by BDSM FC. They had enough chances to put the game to bed in a one-sided first half, and Luxembourg midfielder
Erik Back will be kicking himself for not putting more of his chances away, despite bulging the net in the 34th minute.
Grilled had expected BDSM FC, who boast of current national forward Lee Siong Nie and 24 year-old former U-20 hotshot Wira bin Mahmood, to attack in an open game, but the visitors instead adopted the same counterattacking stance that they had used to such good effect against newbies are newbies, packing five into defence, leaving three up top with Fan Guanzhi an outlet on the left, and leaving Italian veteran Giancarlo Palma to do as he saw fit in the middle.
Palma had little chance by himself against three in the Grilled midfield, but despite monopolizing possession to an extent that the home fans were completely unaccustomed to, Grilled were unable to slip the critical through balls in, against a BDSM FC team concentrating on defence.
Thirty minutes passed without a single decent chance from either side, until
Marc Pujolràs finally prised open the defence as he sent a diagonal ball ahead of an unmarked
Erik Back from an indirect free-kick. Unfortunately, the ball was hit inches too far, and Back failed to get his foot onto what would have been a likely goal.
BDSM FC were waiting for something like this, and Wira bin Mahmood nearly recorded his 100th career goal as goalie Teo Keng Wan spotted his run and sent a goal kick his way.
Lin Jungui was out of position, but managed to recover and be enough of a distraction that the final shot went high.
The ball then returned to the other end as the referee struggled to keep up, though he saw enough of a pull on Bögengang's shirt to award Grilled a second free-kick.
Erik Back stayed on the edge of the box this time, but circumstances were that he was presented with another clear run on goal, and he beat Teo this time with a subtle chip.
Gleb Dorogan limped a little after eating a hard tackle from Palma, but it had no noticeable effect on the match as Grilled continued passing around in midfield. Back must have been wondering if he had been picked by divine providence this day when a corner kick was knocked down to his feet by Vukota - he could have been thinking too much, as he contrived to pass the ball onto the post despite the net gaping before him. He could only fall backwards disbelievingly after that.
To make it worse, BDSM FC scored from only their second chance of the contest, as the much-watched Wang Kwang Liang fooled
Yvan Lefébure comprehensively, playing the ball right through the French midfielder. There was still much to do, and Wang did it with a screamer from all of twenty-five metres that left Valdir no hope. It was the first goal that Grilled had conceded in over five hours at home.
That had
Han Lik-Tsun out of the dugout, as he delivered some choice words to his men. They appeared to have some effect as Grilled set Dorogan completely free after a beautiful passing move near the end of the half, only for Teo to upend the Moldovan while claiming the ball. Grilled appeared to have had a good case for a penalty, but referee Brisko Knapp shook his head after a look at his linesman, to the home fans' fury.
BDSM FC's constant harrying of the ball took its toll as the match went on, and
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim's pent-up energy was put to good use in the 68th minute, as he shouldered challenges from two defenders to bring the ball into the box, before rifling a precise effort past Teo into his far bottom corner.
That seemed to be the winner for Grilled, with the visitors fading, until Zubir Mat Aris popped up with an unlikely equaliser as they put together their first counterattacking move of the second half. It was only the young defender's sixth professional goal, and he followed it with a smart professional foul to deny substitute
Quah Han Kok the opportunity to take a quick free-kick with most of BDSM FC's players away from the back.
