Countered Again
Lee Cleans Up
Grilled's gambit of packing the midfield came close to working at S.T.A.D.E D.E S.P.A.R.T.A, but the absence of any defenders, as well as BDSM FC's Teo Keng Wan having a good day between the posts, meant that the Birds lost out in the end.
Despite Vukota's proclamations to the contrary after the draw last week, coach
Han Lik-Tsun decided to unleash a full complement of midfielders against the hosts, who continued with the 5-2-3 that had seen them get a point. Unsurprisingly, Grilled hogged the ball once more, and appeared to be on the right path as
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim soared to head in from an early Bögengang corner.
The match then tilted the other way, as BDSM FC showed up Grilled's uncertainty in defence on the few occasions they hit the ball up, and Lee Siong Nie wove his way through to equalise in the 34th minute after makeshift defenders Mourão and Josefsson were left watching each other.
Zubir Mat Aris must love playing against Grilled, as he scored his second in as many games against the Birds. Again, no-one was manning the wide areas, and Zubir could work his way inside, mostly unbothered, after a laser-guided sixty-yard ball out of defence.
Grilled would not go into the break behind, and after
Kyou-Chull Kim put in a lazy challenge on main striker Wang Kwang Liang. The home fans were certainly not amused as Grilled pressed the attack after retrieving the ball, and
Yvan Lefébure scored the equaliser from a raid straight down the middle.
There was some vigorous debate between the Grilled coaches at this point, which appeared to be centered on whether to revert to a more conventional defence, but after staying on the pitch for a warm-up,
Ronny Behr and
Lin Jungui returned to the substitutes' bench for the start of the second half.
They were sorely missed when Wira bin Mahmood burst through with slightly more than an hour gone, and this left Grilled chasing the game again. Tempers were frayed after
Erik Back bumped into Wang off the ball after a heated disagreement, and after Wang collapsed theatrically, referee Bogomir Mucelj showed his red card to an unrepentant Back.
Wang recovered too quickly for the Grilled players' tastes after the sending-off, and both Wang and Lee Kian Chun got booked for petty fouls in short order.
Despite being down to ten men, Grilled continued to have their hand on the pulse of the match, and Bögengang could very well have gotten a hat-trick, had Teo not been on the top of his game. He saved a wonderful curler, before nearly cutting out
Chow Ying Lee's assist, and then blocked the German again with a minute to go.
With just a minute remaining, it appeared that Grilled had returned BDSM FC the favour with an away draw, only for Lee Kian Chun to poke the winning goal around Valdir with Grilled's defence in tatters, sparking wild celebrations from the spectators.
