Lost In The Woods
Full House Dismayed
The Birds' streak of poor results against heimu XI continued, as they failed to win against the visitors for the fourth time running. There was however some consolation as The Cooking Pot recorded an attendance of over 95000 - according to records, the last time Grilled recorded all 96000 tickets sold for a league match was against Rollin' Thunder in the S-League twelve seasons ago, while today's turnout was the highest since the qualification match against Kim Tae Hee FC, eleven seasons past.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim cut a desolate figure in the stands as he sat among the fans in an outsized hoodie, having been suspended for the occasion. In his place was an eager
Tang Hengcai making his third league start of the season, having reaped braces on both previous outings, but otherwise the Birds were at full strength.
For all that, it started in one of the worst possible fashions for them, with the heimu XI visitors' 5-4-1 pinpointing Grilled's limitations. This quickly forced the Birds to commit all hands to attack to try and settle nerves with a goal, especially with an unprecedented crowd urging them on, and skipper
Qassem Madaini shook the bar with a fine drive in the sixth minute.
This meant that heimu's plan was coming along well, and they soon uncovered the counterattacking style that had served them so well. After the next Birds assault became bogged down in the middle, a defender booted it out, and it fell on the right side of Lee Chao Cheng, who went clear after
Slavcho Tzonkov botched his last chance to tackle.
Zhu Changchun made a valiant effort to recover, but too much ground had been lost, and Lee finished unchallenged past
Dexter Stacey.
Grilled evidently hadn't learnt anything from that setback, as an almost identical break led to heimu's second barely four minutes later; Italian fullback Giorgio Facciolo made the most out of his advanced position to dash into space. Paul Obojes nearly dealt the finishing blow from the restart, but Stacey saved the Birds with a one-handed save.
This turn of events riled the crowd no end, and if nothing else the atmosphere was worthy of the club. The players found no joy against the extemely stingy heimu defence, though, especially since they were content to hole up with a two-goal cushion. It was not until the 33rd minute that Tang pulled one back with an unpolished header from a corner.
Grilled were certainly not about to begrudge themselves that piece of luck, and could even have entered half-time level, had
Seytek Djekshenkulov's outstanding release from the right edge of the six-yard box found its mark. Unfortunately, it eluded Vittorio Lo Iacono but not his trusty post, coming off the outside.
The second half began with the Birds going straight for the jugular once again, and this time it paid off as
Slavcho Tzonkov equalised in the 50th minute. The 35 year-old Bulgarian, playing perhaps his final match for Grilled, staked out an excellent spot as
Chow Ying Lee and
Tian Yonghang pinged the ball between them, and applied a sufficient finish when Chow picked him out.
That didn't last, though, and heimu XI responded with more of the same, which worked yet again. Spanish forward Tobies Turu chipped in for 2-3, and after a tactical midfield substitution of Willy Hinderdael for Ljubomir Grgurović, Lithuanian playmaker Rimgaudas Gilucevičius caught Madaini out for an easy fourth goal.
Niculae Stanca's response was to pull Tzonkov, who was giving a standing ovation by sections of the crowd, for
Walter Ross, but this only led to another for heimu XI as the Austrian struggled to adapt to the pace of the match, and tripped Turu up in the box. Turu struck the penalty home for his fifth against the Birds this season, an exceptional return.
There was a brief flicker of hope as Madaini, whose pace had been continually been called into question, made part amends with a clever finish to make it 3-5, but Grilled would get no further, other than giving
Alex Fonseca and
Teo Yong Yau one appearance each.
