All Went South
Carter Dunks
It was a dark day for the Birds against Australian II.3 hosts South Side FC today, as their visibly tired team conceded a 2-6 loss without putting up much of a fight.
Lim An Keng's goal-getting instincts would allow him a brace despite an otherwise unprepossessing appearance, but opposing captain Vernon Carter had him well beat even so.
The South Siders had built a cosmopolitan first XI with a local core, with good leadership enabling their meteoric rise from the fifth division to the second, over but six seasons. Young Ecuadorean player-coach Alejandro Quero had taken four tries to promote from Division Three, but it was well worth the wait - and with the like of Carter and Biserko Rosandić still arguably in their prime, their fans are still hoping for something big before they retire.
Grilled were in contrast a little behind in their overall development, and had moreover been hit by a minor slump in form, as readily admitted by today's main striker
Lim An Keng. Norwegian sweeper Phillip Skulberg would shadow him very effectively for the first twenty minutes, before the South Siders mounted a direct raid down the middle.
Raúl Himadas should have gotten on the end of Pavlos Mpardis' simple pass, but he was thrown off by a shoulder-bump at just the right moment by Quero, who further took advantage to score.
An ebullient Mpardis would soon be booked for an overenthusiastic hack on
Aw Keng Chuan, which brought a first shot on target for the Birds, as
Paulino Trindade managed to bring the free-kick out wide under control against Thomas Plangger's attentions. Swedish goalie Carl-Fredrik Hjertstedt parried
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's high strike, however, and it would instead be 2-0 in the 37th minute from Guido Di Quirico snaking in from the left.
The Birds were constantly frustrated by the South Siders' tight man-marking, and it would take a corner for them to reduce, with
Lim An Keng battling through a crowd to barely get a touch on
Raúl Himadas' short delivery... which turned out to be enough. He would be equalled in this feat by Vernon Carter within two minutes, though, as Edgar Strenkert bent a cross in from the right that eluded
Ha Qicai's leap.
Grilled Birds had to press the issue all the harder in the second half, having to make up two goals at least, but they lacked the creativity to unravel their opponents' studied organization. The South Siders were under far less pressure and could bide their time, as they did until a fumble by Trindade let Strenkert inside once more in the 60th minute. Ha rushed out to try and shut him down, but the German wingman got his pass off, and Carter would get his second goal with
Chad Thach's block diverting it past his own goalie.
The referee would still award it to Carter after review, not that Thach was about to object. Grilled did reply two minutes later as
Lim An Keng shuffled it home after nice footwork by
Chia Kwang Tse to get into the box, but the flow remained with the Aussies. Quero would be up to his old tricks once more as he pushed off
Ha Qicai in the 73rd minute, buying him a precious extra second or so as Bruce Waina swooped from the left.
That was 5-2, and
Tian Yonghang took the barely match-fit
Hwang Teck Fu off, to let
Gandhik Chitre have a go. Chitre would unfortunately not cover himself in glory as he tamely hit it straight at Hjertstedt in the 80th minute after springing the opposition offside trap, which had been hastily assembled after Biserko Rosandić fired barely over at the other end. There would be a yellow card for
Chia Kwang Tse as the South Siders flooded Grilled's box, and the free-kick would eventually lead to a sixth goal by Mpardis.
