No Second Thoughts
Another Home Draw
The Birds' mid-season slump continued, as they were held to a one-all draw by the visiting Changi Genius. Moldovan wide midfielder
Gleb Dorogan contributed his first goal since the 3-0 win over seluraralc halfway through the first half, but Valdir was beaten for the third time at The Cooking Pot this season, as Changi's veteran winger Aizal bin Hussain levelled in the second.
Grilled head coach
Han Lik-Tsun had made clear his intention to collect all the remaining points at home, and backed the statement up with a confident 2-5-3 that had Behr and Jungui, who were outstanding in the midweek friendly, holding the fort at the back. With
Erik Back suspended,
Anders Josefsson started out wide on the left, with Dorogan shifted to the right in Back's usual spot.
Changi Genius had hit a rocky road in recent weeks, losing the three preceding competitive matches by narrow 1-2 margins, but had always remained worthy of caution throughout, with team captain Aizal bin Hussain vowing to avenge the 4-0 defeat to the Birds earlier in the season.
They were fighting words indeed, but Grilled's midfield edged it on the pitch, and slowly put the visitors on the defensive. Changi playmaker Mohd Akmal Hizam bin Ismail got himself warned with a yellow in the 20th minute, after he had tried to get in the way of
Marc Pujolràs one too many times.
The opener came five minutes later, as
Anders Josefsson made the most of a gap on the right to lay a lob onto the crossbar, with Israeli goalkeeper Dror Sapir seemingly getting the barest of touches. Sapir had nothing left when Dorogan slipped in out of nowhere to smash the rebound into the far corner, though, almost before the rest of the players could react.
This gave Grilled a additional boost, and Lefébure could have made it two after he was put through by Pujolràs a short while later. The Birds would regret that near miss soon enough, as Aizal made good on his pre-match declaration by netting from a counterattack, after Mohd Safri's excellent strike produced an even more magnificent stop from Sapir with 53 minutes gone.
With the result back in the balance, Changi Genius head coach Jordan Dassen began plotting the next step in the comeback, pulling Mohd Akmal further forward, where he tied up
Kyou-Chull Kim, and waving Mugurel Rusanu more towards the middle to bolster the midfield.
Han Lik-Tsun's reaction was to take Josefsson off for
Quah Han Kok to come on and try to work some magic on the left, which did not quite work out. Grilled nevertheless nearly won it with ten minutes remaining, as Dorogan picked
Chow Ying Lee out from the right flank, but the U-20 forward lost his composure and clipped it disappointingly wide.
