Both clubs were obviously reserving themselves in preparation for their respective midweek Challenger Cup finals, but it was Grilled Birds who got the extra boost instead of FC Barca Singapore, at The Cooking Pot. The attendance was rather lower than expected, likely due to the pouring rain in the build-up, though those 37000-odd who came would be treated by an avalanche of attacking football, despite the muddy conditions.

Having proven themselves with last Sunday's win over the Birds, FC Barca Singapore had not made any big moves in the transfer market ahead of their decider with Singapore Big Dogs, though they did bring in 36 year-old utility man Shin Niwayama on a free. Shin did not travel with the squad today as the visitors kept to the starting 3-5-2 that had worked out at Camp Nou Singapore, if with Ramon Grasser returning to the backline with Sheldon Lightbourne unavailable. The Birds would for their part keep Darko Andrović on the bench, while not risking either Radomil Marcol or Ha Qicai; Dahan Bok and Damian Hutter were on in their stead, with Lim An Keng trusted with the armband for the fourth time in his career.

It was not an especially propitious beginning for Lim as he lost the toss for kick-off to Vũ Ðông Nguyên, which turned into a dream blitz for Barca. Cezar Cheţan knocked the ball straight back to Suat Esener and thence to his goalkeeper as Barca invited Grilled Birds to spread out, and after recycling the ball for about a minute, Grasser found a sprinting Adin Åkesson going full tilt down the left. Aw Keng Chuan was for once slow on rearguard duty as Åkesson ripped a stiff low cross across the box, and there was Ajdin Vanović to sweep it in at the far post!

This was a dagger to the heart of the Birds team, but if they were affected, they definitely didn't show it as they resumed their normal gameplan. They would focus on ball retention for some minutes, while slowly eating into the opposition half. A dazzling four-pass combo saw Hwang Teck Fu make it all square with a stabbed finish in the twentieth minute, but the real game-changer would arrive six minutes after that; there would be an extended altercation between Aadil M'Madi and Lim over a tackle, which would have ended at that - but for M'Madi's hard shove on the Grilled skipper, after his back was turned. Jordanian referee Khaleel Ibrahim El-Abbadi was having none of that, and had no hesitation in flashing the red card.

FC Barca Singapore were now down to ten men, but from how their head coach Tobi Urbancl reacted, he was a lot more concerned at the ramifications of losing M'Madi for the final - which the player appeared to realize after the fact. The match restarted with Chia Kwang Tse and Cezar Cheţan scoring either side of the 31st minute for 2-2, before Chris Jourdan shaved the crossbar following Gandhik Chitre's 39th minute effort that was well stopped by Ivan Ivić. There would then be uproar as Claus-Dieter Eichstaedt caught Chad Thach late, which had the fans baying for another dismissal. El-Abbadi demurred after reviewing the video evidence, and Eichstaedt escaped with a yellow card.

The match officials then avoided Urbancl's attempt to approach them during the half-time walk-off, though El-Abbadi did entertain the Barca boss for a minute after fifteen minutes of cooling off. Unfortunately for the visitors, their losing their central defender had conclusively hobbled their offensive strength, with Suat Esener having to cover the missing piece and their other midfielders also pulled way deeper as a result.

That opened the game up to Grilled's persistent pressure, which was exactly what the Birds thrived on. The home supporters were sensing blood, especially with the on-fire Chad Thach sniffing around a weakened Barca central defence. Their chants would come good in the 60th minute as Thach came up from the other side of Eichstaedt with Chia Kwang Tse already hounding him, and nicking the ball away before Eichstaedt could get rid of it. That touch was subpar with Ivan Ivić probably favourite to rescue the situation, but Thach would then come up with a little hop-step on his weak leg, to improvise a neat finish.

Impressively, Thach would wave away his teammates' celebrations as he made haste to prep the restart as if Grilled were behind instead, and his instincts proved spot-on with Barca not in the right frame of mind to continue. This had Hwang Teck Fu put the Birds 4-2 up with a composed dribble inside the very next minute as Thach drew the lion's share of attention, and it might even have been five as Gandhik Chitre forced an acrobatic save off Ivić right afterwards.

A two-goal lead with half an hour remaining was sufficient for Tian Yonghang, as it happened, from how the Birds gaffer signalled for his men to save their legs as far as possible. Grilled dutifully obeyed his instructions, and the fans obliged by lauding their admittedly boring keep-ball too. Barca didn't seem to want to risk their own finals chances any further too, and Urbancl would cut his losses by withdrawing important midfield general Luis Esteban Espeleta for Abdelouadoud Bensouda, with about five minutes left.

Tian would make his own change with Mohsen El Khateeb high-fiving Raúl Himadas as he came on in the 89th minute, and Toma Tamiya on for Damian Hutter at the next stoppage. There would be a hefty four minutes added today, and hence more than a bit of anxiety once Chris Jourdan lobbed Dahan Bok, after some Bensouda magic. Grilled simply doubled down on squandering the few minutes on the clock, however, and they passed without further incident.