More Marvels
Safri Says So
Grilled cemented their tenure at third as they buzzed to a 5-1 win away at The Unbelieveable Arena, as their double-header opponents were not able to build much understanding over the week. The departure of Brunei international Hj Haszemi bin Taha back to current B-League leaders Inner hollow in between could not have helped, and the Birds pressed on with what had worked and reaped similar rewards.
Now a little thin in midfield, The Unbelieveable opted for four across the middle, with 35 year-old German Dirk Bobers in the anchor role, and Lenny Seeberg coming in off the left. It was not the same withour Haszemi, however, and Grilled were having the run of the ground. It was only a matter of time before they broke through, which the chirpy
Zhu Changchun did in style in the ninth minute.
Chow Ying Lee had called for it as he was open on the side, but it was just as well that Zhu went with the flow and lobbed the long-suffering Beniamin Ples.
The hosts retained the support of the stands, and what they lacked in guile they made up with pure energy. Hj Zaini bin Hj Huzaimi looked to have taken the loss of his friend and national teammate in stride as he gave
Lin Jungui fits whenever they were up against each other, and Lin's allowing him to get away from a split-second at a corner naturally resulted in a perfect header, off the back of his head and in at the near post.
That lifted his teammates, and The Unbelieveable posed a real menace whenever they isolated Grilled's defence on the break. It was mostly good fortune that Grilled managed not to fall behind, with former Peruvian U-20 forward Rafael Tupayachi getting in great positions several times, only to be tripped up by a combination of stalwart defending and alert goalkeeping.
They were not able to keep it up once focal point Zdeněk Bazala acquired a temporary limp after charging into Tzonkov, who stood his ground, and
Paolo Iten relieved the pressure on the Birds with an unlikely reply. The hosts' defenders held back to check the runs of Grilled's nippy front trio, but they appeared to have forgotten that Iten's accuracy with his right peg is second to none, and the Swiss essentially got an unguarded free-kick from inside the box. Needless to say, he hit his target.
The chastened Unbelieveable defence had not had the time to reorganize when Grilled came right at them again, and this time they actively stuck close to the attackers. However, it proved the wrong choice again, as
Abdul bin Jantan spotted the newly-adventurous
Lin Jungui galloping down the middle. Abdul played it to Tian, who responded with the obvious inside pass, and Jungui supplied a messy finish - but they all count.
The Unbelieveable were not disheartened by their sudden setbacks, and some courageous chasing by Bobers gave Norwegian attacking midfielder Husein Hellbo a glorious opening. Sadly, it all came to nothing as Hellbo put a tiny bit too much into his lofted try, and
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim nearly rubbed salt into the wound after finding himself unmarked at the other end, but uncharacteristically hesitated and had the shot blocked.
Mohd Safri, who has gotten some criticism for his below-par goal return in recent months, was wound up by that miss, but bounced back after cooling off during half-time. He stole some of the spotlight back from Chow with a startling demonstration of balance as he rode two hard barges in quick succession two minutes after the restart before cleaning up classily with the outside of his boot.
That was not the end of it for Grilled's star striker, who was certainly not being shy about having a go. After a couple of long shots went astray, Mohd Safri found exactly the right spot with his 64th minute boomer, which he really put his laces through; Ples did very well to get his fingertips on the strike headed for the far top corner, but there was simply too much behind it to stop.
Four up, Grilled felt entitled to take a breather, and head coach
Niculae Stanca supported the motion by bringing off
Slavcho Tzonkov, who had another good game, for
Walter Ross, who promptly pulled a muscle. The Birds weren't affected much, having kept their opponents on the defensive, and a superb save from the disappointed Chow was followed by a courtesy substitution with two minutes to go, with
Alex Fonseca going on for a slightly beaten-up bin Jantan.
