Hopes Dim
Fatal Final Minutes
The Birds were comfortably cruising to a priceless one-nil result at The Cooking Pot after an incredibly uneventful second half, when a mad three minutes at the very end saw Shining Lights drop them with a combination which very likely has put paid to Grilled's chances of staying up.
The build-up to the match saw Shining coach Guilhem Huss gamely disclose that he was going to play a 5-2-3 counterattacking match, and in response the outgoing
Han Lik-Tsun breezily dropped that he would be reinstating
Chow Ying Lee to his customary 2-5-3 - not that they had too many alternatives! The big question mark was whether Han would field actual defenders at the back, and after last week's fiasco, the remaining loyalists who turned up were relieved to see Qaseem Madaini reclaim the armband, with
Lin Jungui playing sidekick.
The game burst into life in no time as the visitors had no inclination to keep the ball, and the pressure mounted until
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim appeared to have won a penalty in the 16th minute, after he went to ground vaulting oncoming goalkeeper Sarp Nakip. It looked like delicious payback for the controversial early decision that Shining Lights got when the teams met previously this season, but to the crowd's horror, referee Stephan Schulz shook his head.
That was the beginning of the "Kayu!" chants which would last the entire match, but McDowell remained stonily unaffected as he resolved to let the game flow as much as possible, which in practice meant letting the Birds knock it square. To be fair, the Birds were no saints themselves, and Jungui was lucky to escape a booking for barging Trielli down after being beaten for pace in the 33rd minute, perhaps as part recompense for the ungiven penalty. There was no escaping a red for Lin when he ripped violently into Étienne Bousquet less than ten minutes later, however.
Down to ten men, few would have though that Grilled could end the half ahead, but that was exactly what happened as home specialist
Chow Ying Lee blazed past slow-turning Geir Rørstad and then pushed a snap-shot past Nakip, who was evidently still feeling the effects of his earlier contact with Mohd Safri. It might even have been two, with
Paolo Iten's free-kick barely tipped to a corner, which then was volleyed onto the crossbar by Chow.
It was just as well as the break came when it did, as the contest threatened to boil over with
Seytek Djekshenkulov engaging in a shoving match with Cai Kunchao over what both perceived as shirt-pulling as the corner came in. Kunchao did not hesitate to lunge into his nemesis the first opportunity he got, which was rightly punished with a yellow and intelligently followed with the half-time whistle, on the stroke of the 46th minute.
The Birds were more than content with their goal, especially since they were down to ten, and were doing well in retaining the ball within their own half when a loss of concentration allowed national defender Mohd Rizalruddin bin Nan to rob
Tian Yonghang; Mazlan bin Meri, who had been patiently lurking, broke down the right on cue, and when the pass came it was a foregone conclusion that he would score, especially given that Madaini had been jogging to the other side of the pitch in preparation to be substituted.
The fans' dream of three points evaporated, but there was more salt to be heaped into the wound, as Grilled were exposed trying to claw back the win. Shining's forwards, who had been pretty well-rested, ran the desperately recovering Grilled midfield ragged before
Abdul bin Jantan managed to halt the game with a well-thought tackle, but even that was to no avail as Bousquet converted the indirect free-kick to break Grilled hearts.
