Phon On Song
Slim Margins
Grilled Birds crashed out of the AFC ASIAN CUP soon after their HATTRICK CHAMPIONS LEAGUE exit, as Thai II.4 champions Phon sawang Fc edged them 5-4 in a spectacle of a goalfest. Phon must be one of the few clubs to have a superior Challenger Cup record than the Birds, having just added a fourth Emerald Challenger Cup - and their 12th in total - to their considerable collection, and it was little wonder that this fixture would be billed as a clash between cup specialists - fittingly, in a cup.
Tian Yonghang would spend the pregame hobnobbing with Phon's Portuguese head coach Nobre Fonte, who has gained something of a following in Udon Thani with his recent achievements. Interestingly, Phon's record had not been built on big spending, with their last purchase exceeding five million - S$8 million for Spanish forward Alberto Bada - having come over six seasons ago. Fonte had constructed his team around a strong foreign midfield core, backed up by big-haired Dutch Number One Giorgio Ramgolam in goal.
This was a game that the Grilled squad had expressed that they were particularly looking forward to, and so it was that they introduced themselves with one of their most inventive starts in recent weeks, a spate of dynamic interpassing at all ranges that had
Hisham Zubari loft one in for
Hwang Teck Fu in the fourth minute, only for him a nod it wide.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul would earn a penalty after Heinz-Hubert Kleinhenz got tangled up with him on a rush inside three minutes on, and
Raúl Himadas blasted it straight to the top left corner from the spot.
It was tough to say that the Birds didn't deserve the lead either as they continued creating with aplomb, and Phon were perhaps lucky to reach the half-hour mark only 0-2 down from
Lim An Keng's majestic 20th minute glancing header, after
Chad Thach nearly reached Himadas's tasty 30th minute flat cross. Alberto Bada would relieve the pressure two minutes later as he broke Grilled's offside trap, after anticipating Ricardo Moreira holding his pass back for a split-second longer than usual.
Game on, then, and the remainder of the half would be a lot more evenly-split than before. There was little pretense at conservatism from either team as they barrelled forward whenever they won the ball, as when
Mohd Marzuki Khairul rounded Ramgolam in the 39th minute, after the luckless Kleinhenz had been harassed into showing too much of it to him by
Chia Kwang Tse. Phon were hardly lacking in that respect either, and it was 3-2 a couple of minutes on, when Russian striker Gleb Loschenov simply sprinted past both Himadas and Nagano on cue.
The match would swing towards the Thai side as it wound on, as the Birds began to waver in possession, especially after longer spells that went nowhere.
Ananda Hettiarachchi would largely be a reliable factor in the heart of the Grilled midfield, but even he was not flawless, as when his misplaced pass was snatched up by Robert Cudowski about the 71st minute. Heinz-Hubert Kleinhenz then finally had his own back as he called for it, and went on to lash it past Marcol from just outside the box.
It was all level for less than a full minute, as Phon dispossessed
Chad Thach almost before he had received the ball after kick-off, and went on to lead from former Thai U-20 forward Mana Tianphosuwan a day before his 33rd birthday.
Phillip Nagata was not about to let that go as Grilled responded the only way they knew how - by launching themselves at their opponents once again - as a flip-flap from
Lim An Keng confused Canadian winger Chandresh Kumar for long enough to squeeze a good low centering ball in.
The fans on both side were really getting into it now, but as so often has been the case, it would be Grilled's backline to let them down when it mattered the most. They were overly caught up in the excitement too, or so it seemed, as Loschenov hung out on the left entirely unnoticed in the midst of an ongoing Birds advance. He was then able to seek out Paul Carpin with a pinpoint fifteen-yard pass after the attack faltered, and Carpin's neat conversion turned out to be Phon's winner.
