Injury Time Anguish
Nakron Super Comeback
The visitors for the day, Nakorn FC, hail from regional powerhouse Thailand. The Songkhla side took to the pitch with a totally indigeous Thai lineup, right down to the substitutes, while Grilled fielded four imports - Balencia, Magunsson, Tellskär and Hobson. The kickoff was marred by intermittent rain, which fortunately is quite common in both teams' countries. Nakorn have cause to be confident, this being their second consecutive friendly against a Singaporean side, the first being a 6-0 win over Third Division Apostate, with homegrown striker Ananada Tippiwan grabbing a hat-trick.
Many had expected the game to resolve into a straight goal-scoring contest between Tippiwan and Grilled's own hotshot
Tim Hobson with plenty of opportunities resulting from the open, fast Thai game and Grilled's offensive preferences. Nakron's last fourteen games involved four or more goals, as had nine of Grilled Birds' last ten. Not unexpectedly, the first goal in this match arrived in the tenth minute as Koo Man-Kit got the better of fellow youngster Yod Malivalaya as he came to be exposed by Grilled's extra width in midfield.
Unhindered, Man-Kit took his time to place his cross to the far post, where both Hobson and Chiew-Yen lurked. Hobson dummied, and Chiew-Yen struck it cleanly on the volley to open accounts. The three again combined for the second, as Hobson bent in a corner and Man-Kit managed to get his head to it. Chi-Yuen fluffed what should have been a simple save, and Chiew-Yen notched a quick second by hammering in the weak punch-out without any pretense at subtlety.
Hobson was denied soon after by the post as he flicked Chiew-Yen's lay-off first time, but scored in the 26th minute as Nakron found themselves overextended after a lengthy build-up. The game seemed to be all but over by then and some punters in the stands could be seen tearing up their betting slips, but the game was to undergo a tremendous change.
Nakron FC's revival began with the dismissal of Grilled defender Ong Tan, who stupidly took down Tippiwan from the back when Tuan-Mu had him covered. The red card meant that only Tuan-Mu and Sun-Nee were left at the back, and Nakorn were suddenly left with huge holes to exploit.
Guan-Hua immediately ran at the disorganised backline, who backed off, already committed to other attackers. This gave him more than enough space to pick his spot and pull one back.
Xing Hua was hurriedly waved down to fill the gaps, but this left the midfield out of shape. Worse, his effectiveness was reduced after the restart as his ankle buckled under Mekhala's rough challenge. Left with no more natural defensive players, Grilled were constantly on the backfoot.
Tippiwan got his goal off a great chip, and Tri-Tai drew the score level five minutes later as Grilled's players struggled to find their positions. Dogged if amateurish defending kept Nakron at bay until the last minute of the game, but Grilled failed to play out for a draw as Guan-Hua broke the deadlock with a long-range effort. To rub it in, central midfielder Mak Park rounded out the score as he placed a curling shot through the Grilled defensive wall with the last kick of the game.
