Hooked On Goals
History Repeats
It is rare that a team wins by three goals after having to come from behind thrice, but that was exactly what the Birds did to see off the Rapalites and book another season in II.2. Furthermore, despite the glut of nine goals scored, Grilled's average in matches against their opponents of the day actually
dropped from 9.5 to 9.33, in what must be another seldom-seen statistic.
Although the visitors had not managed to score in their last two league matches, there was a sense that they had been taking it easy, not even having a recognized forward on the pitch for much of the time. Grilled would be granted no such indulgence, with the deadly duo of the Big Dane, Marcus Sejersbøl, and Speedy Italian Andrea Simbula, who commanded a combined total of some S$16 million in transfer fees.
They were understandably raring to take on Grilled's paper-thin backline, anchored only by Qaseem Madaini, who was surprisingly partnered by trusty midfielder
Alex Fonseca, as Han sought to hold possession at all costs. Rapala FC put Sven Hjertsjö back in goal ahead of Georgian regular Beqa Kakhniashvili, but their tactics were otherwise overwhelmingly positive, with their five in midfield all eager to get the ball forward.
Head coach
Han Lik-Tsun had predicted in his swansong match programme writeup that the match would be a high-scoring affair, so the supporters were possibly not too disheartened when French wingback Jean-Yves Fouache entered the box with a mazy dribble and shot low and hard past
Dexter Stacey. Grilled were not short on attacking verve themselves, and
lu Zunwen, who has taken his time finding his best form, equalised nine minutes later with a similar reply.
The action-packed minutes passed quickly as the teams jostled for an advantage, which Fonseca tried to provide with his strong supporting runs from deep, which however mostly came to nothing. Rapala looked deadlier when they went on the offensive, and after a near miss from Constantin Lockwitz off a corner and a spectacular save by Hjertsjö off Mohd Safri, Gianni Gervasi scored with pomp on a counter spearheaded by Christophe Verne.
Again, Grilled didn't take that lying down, and perservered with their dogged movement down the centre. The visitors packed that part of the field in response, but there was nothing the additional bodies could do five minutes later as everything clicked for Grilled's midfield maestros; the forwards were left watching as national prospect
Zhu Changchun sliced his way through all comers and made it all square at the break.
The first fifteen minutes of the second half were uncharacteristically quiet, and caused Han to give out-of-favour French midfielder
Yvan Lefébure a go in the place of captain Qaseem Madaini; this looked terribly like a blunder on Han's part, as Yvan was nowhere near Andrea Simbula when the star striker rifled in from the left side of the area, to put Rapala ahead for the third time.
Han was vindicated soon enough, and where Grilled took nine minutes to reply to the first Rapala goal and five minutes for the second, they took only three minutes this time, with
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim making up for his early miss with a sublime chipped finish over Hjertsjö after
Chow Ying Lee broke the offside trap.
Grilled's big guns had finally been brought to bear, and
Tian Yonghang cemented his status as hotshot of the campaign, his volley in off the bar the very next minute being his tenth for the season, and twenth-fifth overall. His exceptional run of games would come to an end after he tweaked a tendon stretching for the ball four minutes later, but by then Mohd Safri had made it 5-3 to send Rapala to the ropes.
The visitors never threatened to mount a comeback as the psychological blow of letting a lead slip thrice had them reeling, and substitute
Tang Hengcai sunk them without trace as he recorded his first ever qualification goal, a good, solid header on a
Paolo Iten cross.
