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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 82 | W | 3 - 1 | Tournament (Group Phase) | | Season 78 | W | 0 - 2 | Friendly | | Season 74 | W | 3 - 1 | Tournament (Playoffs) | | Season 72 | W | 2 - 5 | Friendly | | Season 71 | W | 3 - 2 | Friendly |
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What Are Buddies For?
Relac Zero Corner
Grilled Birds' seven-game losing streak would finally be halted, and it would take some friendly intervention by Farmer Bunnies to do so. Drawn together in Group A of the HATTRICK CHAMPIONS LEAGUE tourney, this was perhaps a fixture that the clubs could have done without in more taxing campaigns; but as it was, it would be a welcome respite from external pressure, for the Birds at least.
Farmer Bunnies, note, had won their last two and been unbeaten for their last five, so
Vishnu Tallapaka had quite a bit less to prove than
Tian Yonghang. Tallapaka didn't skint on his starting lineup regardless, and displayed his respect with a strong 5-5-0 that included most of their best. Tian saw no reason to deviate from his usual 2-5-3 either, and it was
Hwang Teck Fu back up top with the transfer-listed Chitre and Reddy not called up.
All knew that this was likely going to be a splashabout after the monsoon had swept over the Western region of Singapore throughout the night, and it was still pouring when the referee made the decision to get on with it. What transpired bore little enough resemblance to soccer, and save for
Chia Kwang Tse's spirited thunderbolt in the general direction of
Gilberto Sorondo's goalmouth in the seventh minute from over thirty yards, the Birds didn't do much to write home about.
This was likely due in large part to the Buns' clear intention to operate on the counter, and with visibility plunging at various points, Grilled were loathe to gamble on pushing too deeply into the opposition half. A random clearance from
Guan Ming Kum in the eleventh minute saw
Lee Yau Tong through to try
Radomil Marcol, for instance, and a second counterattack six minutes further on had
Amirul Jufri Khairil edge past
Hisham Zubari on his stronger foot - but the curler would not cooperate.
The opening few minutes of the second half had Grilled Birds devote their maximum intensity for a short spell, which had
Hwang Teck Fu go the most direct route possible from kick-off, and actually manage to send a drive marginally past the post. Four minutes later,
Lim An Keng would not get the benefit of the doubt after he flew over Sorondo's late dive at his feet, and the long ball out would find Amirul once more - but
Genki Nagano headed him off expertly for this attempt.
Grilled's final, and probably best, shot on target would arrive via a
Chad Thach header 57 minutes in, but it came down off the crossbar, and was hacked into touch by a grateful
Toh Eng Guang. Buns tried a late tactical switch by throwing
Ho Ah Kian on for Amirul, but neither that nor the Birds' substitutions in response of
Paulino Trindade and
Kendell El Khateeb made an impact.
