Abdul Joy
Welcome Home, bin Jantan
Local boy made good
Abdul bin Jantan experienced a magical homecoming, as he helped his team to a thumping 3-0 win over reigning champions Arrogancae, who admittedly had fielded a weakened side and reserved their best for the Cup. That did not diminish Abdul's obvious passion, though, and the Birds' long home nightmare was finally over. Even better, it took barely half an hour to exorcise the spectre of defeat at The Cooking Pot.
There was a rare sense of anticipation around the stadium, with Grilled having just made two big signings, but in the end only bin Jantan made his debut, while
lu Zunwen warmed the bench. There was no mistaking that Grilled needed the win badly, and against a visiting Arrogancae side that was resting some of their top stars like national midfielder Pan Dawei and forwards Girolamo Viola and Darmantas Niurnaitis, they saw a chance to finally pick up their first points.
This they did in very fine fashion, with the under-fire
Seytek Djekshenkulov deflecting some criticism as soon as the sixth minute. Arrogancae pressed the ball and kept a high line, hoping to keep their makeshift backline from being exposed, but it all unravelled thanks to
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim's vision. With nobody between him and goal but the keeper, Djekshenkulov could not help but hit the target.
The crowd could not decide whether to keep silent or cheer when former Chicken Wings academy graduate Zhao Jingwei was caught accidentally by bin Jantan in the nineteenth minute, and settled for scattered whistles as Zhao was stretchered off. Ironically, Zhao could well have been playing in place of bin Jantan had the clubs been able to come to an agreement. Despite that, his departure was not actually beneficial to the Birds, with Dawei, without doubt a better player than Zhao as of now, entering the fray on his behalf.
Even Pan couldn't do much against a suddenly-improved Grilled midfield, however, and the naturalness with which bin Jantan brought his teammates into the game beggared belief. He had evidently not forgotten his teenaged years spent on this pitch, and spotted
Chow Ying Lee darting through the defence in the 31st minute. A quick pass later, Grilled were two up.
It was far from over as a reinvigorated Grilled side scrapped and won the ball back from kick-off, and bin Jantan showed the hustle that saw him claw his way up the professional ranks as he rode several bumps taking it up the right flank. His ball into the penalty area could hardly have been better, being in just the right spot for
Tian Yonghang to race up to, and Tian converted a rare glancing header for 3-0.
That was more than enough for the coach, who couldn't believe his luck, and Han frantically waved for his team to settle down and take the lead into half-time. The players grudgingly obeyed, though
Zhu Changchun couldn't resist a steamrolling run in the final few minutes that had the Arrogancae defence concerned.
What was notable was that Grilled's momentum carried through into the second half instead of petering out, as has so often happed at The Pot in recent times. Chow's speed was especially vexing for the visiting defence, and only Néstor Camps's outstretched foot prevented Mohd Safri from getting the easiest of tap-ins in the fiftieth minute.
The chance of the game came soon after, as
Paolo Iten chose to spread a direct free-kick, awarded after Meng Yunbin's rash tackle, wide. Changchun and Mohd Safri moved the ball between themselves before Zhu let loose a ripping effort that looked destined for the top corner, before Italian goalkeeper Massimo Cazzulati sprung up to make an exceptional fingertip save.
Cazzulati would be called into action time and again as Grilled smelled blood, and it could have gotten very bad for Arrogancae had he not been in top form. Chow was probably his biggest victim, with the former U-20 forward denied multiple times, among them a near-certain goal that Cazzulati instinctively blocked with his leg.
Arrogancae finally regained the composure that has seen them dominate II.2, and drew back and tightened up to effectively keep the score down. It could not be said that Grilled were too unhappy about that, having three goals and a clean sheet in the bag, and
Yvan Lefébure's late substitution on for
Lin Jungui had the air of celebration around it.
