Flight Grounded
All To Play For
The Birds belatedly clambered into the modest safety of sixth place thanks to a hardscrabble draw away at Changi Genius, in a gritty affair where both participants knew very well what was at stake. They had hoped to hang on after the impressive
Tian Yonghang found the net for the third straight outing, but the hosts would not be denied, and saved themselves with a well-worked equaliser through Portuguese star Élton Sangue.
Going into kickoff, the calculations were as simple as could be - win, and be in a very good position going into the final game, or lose and go down. Both sets of players couldn't be faulted for having more on their minds than simply knocking a ball around, but ironically the few who could put all that behind them had a distinct advantage.
Grilled were the more fired up at the beginning, and they did not deviate from their three-forward strategy, striving to keep Changi on the back foot. The home side indeed yielded the initiative, and could have regretted it bitterly had
Chow Ying Lee hit his shot with more authority in the 21st minute, after pulling ahead of Yu Jingyi on the left side.
Encouraged, the Birds continued piling on the pressure, and deserved to be ahead as
Paolo Iten bent a wicked free-kick at speed towards the roof of the net. Dror Sapir had predicted that, though, which allowed him to make the additional steps required to brush it aside, to Iten's evident dismay.
Changi were in dire need of leadership at this stage, and while Aizal bin Hussain tried to provide it by giving direction from the front, Élton Sangue took over in a far more direct way - with his play. His continual marauding from wide took heat off his floundering defence, and after a near-assist from a cross, he had a good shout for a penalty after forcing
Dexter Stacey to dive at his feet.
Just as they appeared to be turning the tide, however, Tian's preternatural eye for goals surfaced again. The 21 year-old deep-lying forward did not look like a threat when he received the ball some distance from Changi's penalty area, but a swift turn to shake off his marker put him within range, and he wasted no time in lofting over Sapir to become Grilled's leading scorer in the league for the season with six to his name.
It was now Changi's job to score, and although Han saw the danger in his side retreating deep, there was not much his instructions could do from the sideline as pure instinct took over. The mass of defenders did stop Sangue from getting an open look right after the break, but it was only luck which let Grilled escape when Megat Amir Faisal bin Zainal missed a gaping goal from a short corner.
With their continued participation in Division Two fast slipping away, Changi coach Jordan Dassen could not stand it any longer, and withdrew his captain for Swiss veteran Per Nessholt, a huge gamble given that their midfield was already sorely lacking the presence of the suspended Mohd Akmal Hizam bin Ismail, who had been so outstanding in his side's victory over the Birds in the first half of the season.
It did work as Nessholt cleverly engaged
Lin Jungui full time with his frequent little dashes, which left Madaini overloaded at the back. Han was still debating whether to bring
Slavcho Tzonkov on when the choice was made for him, as Élton Sangue elegantly wove past both defenders to bury his grounder.
A point being not quite satisfying enough for Grilled, and probably Changi, Han elected to have his men keep plugging at it, but their dogged effort brought nothing more than a booking for Jadilson Cabrito, which left more issues unresolved than not.
