Peppered Back
Iten In It
The Birds wasted no time in putting their 0-3 away loss to Red Freaking Chillies well behind them, as they grabbed two goals within the opening three minutes before coasting to a 4-2 final result.
On their part, the Chillies made several changes to the side that so effectively contained Grilled, with Miguel Bravo stepping in as expected for the injured Abdeen El-Haroun, leftback Tom Hansson a surprise exclusion with the younger Ján Rychtarčík coming in, and most tellingly the flying Russian winger Arseniy Gotovtsev on the same wing for the more balanced Massimo Impellizzeri.
It looked like the visitors were bent on testing Grilled's solidity at the rightback position, which has seen a revolving door of occupants, most recently
Alex Fonseca.
Lin Jungui was the assigned man today, however, and either way there would be no testing going on for a long time as the Birds seized the initiative.
Grilled have never traditionally been the quickest of starters, but there would be a deviation from the usual script as
Paolo Iten, picked today over
Shiya Shaahee despite some poor reviews in the reserves, jammed an early cross in the general direction of the frontlines. Nothing was expected until
Tian Yonghang made an entrance at great speed and swatted it unstoppably past Bravo.
The standin goalkeeper had been identified as a weak link by pundits, but there was little he could have done for either this or the penalty that followed. Rychtarčík bumped rather too obviously into
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim as the latter prepared to make his move, and
Paolo Iten did the job he does best, finding the bottom right corner of the net.
It was a glorious return to first-team play for Iten, who had a goal and an assist to his name before even breaking sweat. While the same could not be said for Bravo, the goalkeeper did pull off a class save from
Seytek Djekshenkulov in the 31st minute, with the former Kyrgyzstani youth international again disappointed in his bid for his first of the season.
Grilled somehow managed not to add to their lead in the first half, as they kept moving into good offensive positions despite Chillies holding their own in midfield. It looked a certain third when
Chow Ying Lee burst past the last man, drew the goalie and squared for Mohd Safri, but the seemingly infallible hotshot let up one of the simplest finishes he will ever be presented with, by sending it just past the upright.
That disappointment aside, there was little that the supporters could find fault about Grilled's first-half performance, and it would be more of the same in the second as the Birds clicked like a well-oiled machine. After some warnings, a free-kick was given up some distance from the visitors' penalty area, and up stepped Iten to bend in his first set-piece goal since last season's Cup victory over The Match Losers.
Having achieved full recompense for the earlier defeat, Grilled slacked off somewhat and were made to pay by the enterprising Chillies right flank. Harald Polat was the mastermind, tricking his way into the space behind Djekshenkulov, and a couple more intricate passes saw Belgian teammate Ferdi Verpoot free to chip
Dexter Stacey.
Polat himself could have made things dicey with a monster of a strike after again advancing unassisted, but Stacey was too experienced a goalkeeper to be beaten by anything but a miracle from that range. Still, the Birds were noticeably getting pressed, and Chow got himself booked helping out in defence.
This nervous state was finally banished after Bravo took a hard fall scrambling after a through ball, which might have contributed to his struggling to react to Chow's low shot past him on the near side in the 85th minute. Free-scoring Italian forward Rosario Bettella bagged his thirteenth of the season for the Chillies in response, but a two-goal lead was enough for Grilled to remain secure through injury time.
