Shadow Extinguished
Record Recorded
The reserves brought some joy to an under-the-weather Grilled by setting a new club record for most goals scored in the third round of the Cup, getting into the double-digits for the first time at this stage of the competition against hapless Sunday pub team Shadow spirit, who were feeling the effects of a hard-won 4-3 win against Punksters United last Wednesday and tamely surrendered their 14 match unbeaten run.
Grilled fans, after watching recordings of that game, could only conclude that Shadow were lucky to get through after they let Punksters have most of the ball, and made it largely through the clinical efforts of locum doctor Ooi Nie Wai, who needled two in before their opponents were settled.
Ooi started again after an energy-sapping Herculean effort that day, but it was evident that a repeat was not on the cards, as the Birds took their own lesson from the previous round to heart. They kept things simple and neat, and
Neo Da Teck made the most of being fielded as a forward, belting it cleanly past goalie Zhong Heng Chin in the 15th minute.
The suddenly-deflated Shadow let in two more in short order, with
Tang Hengcai beating his man to score after a sloppy restart was botched, and
Wardi Azhari made sure that all the strikers would be on the scoresheet when he kept calm to lash in a volley after being criminally unmarked in the 19th minute.
While this was probably game over for the challengers, the kids did well not to let it go to their head, and kept their concentration even after Lee Kwang Lai tried to rile them up by chopping
Krishnan Adabala down.
Teo Yong Yau kept his head admirably to clean up after Mohd Ramzi Sakup lost sight of the ball, and Neo made it five before being booked for over-enthusiastic tugging of shirts, to cap an excellent half.
That wasn't enough to keep Alcántara from giving academy boy
Rauf Khairul Akmal his competitive debut, his first appearance since an invisible twenty-minute cameo against =FC Zenit Spb= in a friendly; Rauf would announce his arrival properly this time, attacking a corner kick aggressively and thereby scoring with his first attempt on goal, ironically after being completely goalless at youth level.
The long celebrations had barely died down when
Tang Hengcai once again struck Shadow while they were down, tapping a pass from midfield forward to himself before once again putting it past Zhong. The hosts began to lose it, with Lai Lee Siong and Wong Chan Ho yellow carded for petty delaying tactics in the following five minutes.
That unpleasant little interlude came to an end after the impressive Tang won a penalty after being blatantly shoved aside as he tried to get the ball within the penalty area. Despite being on a hat-trick, Tang stood aside for designated taker
Mayur Gudivada, who did not let his teammate down with a classy pop at the top left corner.
While the team were likely unaware of the possible record at this stage, its possibility was beginning to be raised online on the official messageboard, and it seemed more or less inevitable after
Teo Yong Yau skipped between Hairil Zamri bin Abd Karim and Lee Swee Huat on the right side to make it nine in the 74th minute.
The Birds would find the tenth much harder as Shadow spirit mustered up one final effort to close ranks and avoid embarassment, and despite Grilled peppering Zhong with shots, none made it, with a particularly outstanding stop from Azhari's close-range blast. They were not to be denied, though, and
Krishnan Adabala made history with three minutes left, chipping Zhong from ten metres.
