Winning Ways
lu Drives Birds
All the portents pointed towards an unhappy beginning - Grilled had lost their previous six opening-day league games, not won in their previous six official meetings with heimu XI, been whipped 1-6 in the exact same fixture last season, and on top of all that, were without top scorer
Chow Ying Lee. They however put all that behind them to start afresh with a good 3-2 result to get off the right foot.
As Stanca said in the match programme, the starting lineup more or less picked itself with Chow out,
Abdul bin Jantan and
Shiya Shaahee in less-than-ideal form and
Ling Fuquan still getting up to speed, but the 3-5-2 that resulted looked surprisingly fluid. heimu XI ended speculation by coming out in the same formation, eschewing a counterattacking match, such was their confidence.
Grilled's bogey team had been quiet over the transfer window, with their most recent transfer being the sale of Safri bin Mustapa to Le Garcon two months ago, and they looked a suitably settled side. Nobody told that to emerging leader
lu Zunwen, though, as the powerful midfielder made himself a one-man wrecking ball around heimu's box, and the chipped goal that resulted in the 14th minute was scarcely less than he deserved.
For all the to-and-froing, neither goal came directly under threat for long periods as the players, who knew each other only all too well, kept most mundane attacks at bay.
Zhu Changchun had a big hand in Grilled's active defence, having seemingly worked on his tackling a lot in the off-season. He was however taken in by Stanisław Babul's sweet turn in the 31st minute, and booked for the obvious jersey-tug that followed.
The Birds' weakness at set pieces was exposed six minutes later, just as they were getting self-congratulatory at shielding
Dexter Stacey. There was nobody in the way when heimu captain Tobies Turu raked a flat corner-kick at the far post, leaving Giorgio Facciolo to leap and finish it quite openly.
The flustered Grilled backline was then breached again when
Seytek Djekshenkulov left Mike Randegger for
Qassem Madaini to handle, not expecting that the Swiss winger would sprint for the inside gap.
Lin Jungui and
Walter Ross did as best as they could to manage the ensuing three-on-two, but Randegger found Paul Obojes coming across the back, and Obojes held his nerve to slide heimu's second in off the near post.
The home crowd was slightly subdued at this turn of events, but recovered their earlier zest shortly, and really turned on the volume when Grilled's primary plan came to fruition before half-time.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim and
Tian Yonghang finally got used to not having an advanced outlet, and a timely backwards pass or two saw it get to Austrian rightback Ross, who had bombed forward.
Ross was evidently not used to having possession in the opposition penalty area, but kept enough of his wits to stick his foot in, placing an admirable shot past Sébastien Ledet and right into the corner. It was an unforgettable moment for Ross, who had endured five seasons as a rarely-used backup, and the celebrations for his first-ever league goal spilled over into the break.
The game was far from done, though, and it was the visitors who threatened more once the second half began. Thankfully, Grilled had learnt their lesson when Turu lined up an indirect free-kick right outside of the penalty area, and kept a tight leash on heimu's most dangerous headers of the ball through that event.
heimu were given yet more encouragement when
Zhu Changchun launched himself into one fierce challenge too many, and had his trailing leg fold awkwardly behind him. That looked so painful that Kostandin Hasllani immediately booted the ball out of play to enable Zhu to receive treatment, in an act of sportsmanship that was warmly applauded by the crowd.
That was
Abdul bin Jantan's cue to enter, and the experienced 29 year-old, recognizing his current limitations, made himself useful by keeping things simple and playing only high-percentage passes. Ironically, this allowed Grilled's share of possession to increase, and out of this
Seytek Djekshenkulov struck to put Grilled ahead 3-2 from an unlikely angle.
This development forced heimu and part-time national coach Zhu Aobo's hand, as he decisively stopped deliberating and ordered Raúl Chumbita on in search of an equaliser, sacrificing reliable defender Horst Triebenbacher and transitioning into a 2-5-3, giving the assembled supporters the odd experience of seeing Grilled's preferred formation turned on themselves.
Fortunately, the visitors' unfamiliarity with this setup showed, notwithstanding Grilled having probably learnt a few tricks against it in training. Old fox bin Jantan continually reminded his teammates to slow things down and hold the ball, which while boring was a tactic the fans could get into given the circumstances, and there was even time for
Ling Fuquan to saunter in for a winning league debut.
