Cheesy Victory
Championship Dreams Dashed
Grilled soared to a surprise 4-1 win at See Mee Lan Park, a venue they have not managed to take a point from for three seasons, as Arrogancae secured automatic promotion to the S-League with their win against Shining Lights, ending their five-season stay in II.2.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim will be suspended for the season closer after picking up two yellows, but his deeds may well have had a lot to do with the outcome.
The travelling fans had few hopes of Grilled doing well against a CharlesCheesePie team that had won five straight in the league to place themselves in title contention, especially with their golden generation of midfielders playing with such harmony. Former U-20 player Mohd Ali bin Abu Bakar was started in the middle after weeks of playing wide, and could have scored off a slick free-kick setup had he gotten to the final ball.
It was the Birds who were the deadlier when it counted, with
Tian Yonghang for once getting it right in the wet conditions to turn in a cross from
Seytek Djekshenkulov, who had gotten himself into trouble down the left.
Alex Fonseca, used as an advanced defender, then snapped up a second ten minutes later, with what was only Grilled's third attempt on goal.
CharlesCheesePie could not quite fathom how they were two down despite looking the better side, and they then had another spanner thrown into the works when Mohd Safri brought Manfredo Noriega down. The Mexican forward tried to hobble on, but was dissuaded by the pain and replaced by the 37 year-old Yap Ho Guang.
The disruption affected the home team's cohesiveness, as their attacking moves became disjointed, which gave Grilled free reign to try riskier plays at the front.
lu Zunwen benefitted in the 40th minute from an odd break, as a long pass that looked like it was covered by the defence bounced to the side after hitting the ground. Lu instinctively pushed it forward and scooped it beyond Ioan Diaconescu.
The Romanian goalie would have to pick the ball out of this net a fourth time before the half was ended, with
Paolo Iten picking his moment to unleash a completely unstoppable effort. The home fans looked stunned at the proceedings, with their hopes of the championship looking particularly bleak with the news that Arrogancae were leading 3-0 at Blackout Arena.
As things stood, they would need four goals just to stay in contention, and János Daday had little choice but to go for broke from the restart, using all his available substitutions. Former internationals Zulharisan bin Mamud and Wong Chang De were his trump cards, and they had an immediate impact as Wong won a penalty after just two minutes, which Iskandar Zulkernain bin Saidi converted.
Grilled were content to maintain their three goal lead, which came under threat when Mohd Ali again found himself with an excellent chance deep inside the Grilled half, but again passed it up, this time by sking the ball. The Birds' defensive outlook then became set in stone when Mohd Safri retaliated after being caught slightly late, earning him a second booking and a red.
Sensing that there was no better time to stage their move, the Pies swung into attack, and Soon Yew Yeng's decisive drive in the 69th minute would have zoomed in had
Qassem Madaini not got his boot in the way at the last moment. The Grilled captain signalled frantically to the bench for aid, and
Niculae Stanca agreed, exchanging the increasingly-ineffective Fonseca for the nous of
Slavcho Tzonkov.
That did the trick as the in-demand Bulgarian provided the intelligent positioning that the Birds were crying out for, and it was
Chow Ying Lee who had the best opportunity of the remainder of the game, only to place it over the bar.