Running To Gun
A Refusal To Concede
The Birds stretched their unbeaten streak to ten games in total, as
Hwang Teck Fu sensationally equalized in the dying seconds of added time against Swedish Ic opponents Svedala Gunners, to save a 3-3 draw. The Gunners had been headed for a comfortable victory before that, after building a two-goal advantage in the first half, and then defending it expertly through the second. Grilled had been knocking on the doors throughout the final five minutes, it had to be said, and the outcome was perhaps not entirely unexpected from that.
Both sides were still involved in their domestic cup competitions, with Svedala Gunners having made the final thirty-two of the hallowed Svenska Cupen, and are looking to outdo their semifinals feat from two years back, where they lost 1-5 to then Allsvenskan club Zorro Dribblers. Swedish international forward Björn Sahlbo struck a hat-trick then, but has since moved to Italian Serie A leaders A.S.Time Waste.
Gunners midfielder Felix Everkvist, who was injured in that match, returned as part of the homegrown midfield four in a 4-4-2, next to captain and Sweden regular winger Matthias Björnberg. In attack, they looked to speedy Spanish veteran Luis Olmo Cañas, as Belize international fullback Deivis Jiménez made for a frightening left wing together with Björnberg. French Number One Camille Vieilledent guarded goal, to back a formidable lineup.
It was quickly clear that the Gunners were sitting deep to counter, but there would soon be hints that this came with its own risks.
Hwang Teck Fu threw himself back into the thick of things after serving out his suspension, and he gave German centreback Waldemar Aap twisted blood in the first few minutes. The goal when it came was from another, however, as
Johann Schwietzer cut a unlikely figure slicing inside, what with the Swedish players all having their own assignments. He only had to place his shot at the post, with Vieilledent unable to close in time.
The French goalkeeper would save an opportunistic header by
Chad Thach next, as he thought about bringing
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko's searching lob down, before going direct. While Otto Tungér's strike from the long clearance went high, Svedala Gunners had gained a taste for bombardment with that, and they levelled with Tungér's own delivery in the 16th minute. French left forward Laurent Jeanne got away from Schwietzer for a moment there, and it was enough for him to chip
Radomil Marcol on a second touch with the same foot.
With this, the Gunners were the ones to set the pace, and one got the impression that they had the Birds dancing to their tune, despite Grilled retaining nearly three-fifths of the possession. It took some inventive footwork by
Mohd Marzuki Khairul to wriggle free in the 26th minute, but his angle was swiftly shut down by Czech centreback Kamil Baštinec. Worse, the Gunners broke the offside trap on their response, which had fullback Bruno Derain slip through on the right to meet Matthias Björnberg's snappy cross for 2-1.
Björnberg was not shy to flaunt the raw acceleration that had won him 36 caps with the Blågult thus far, and a 32nd minute rush had
Phillip Nagata look positively sluggish; had
Ananda Hettiarachchi not recognized the threat, it could well have been a third. That would arrive five minutes later anyway, after Vieilledent saved from Hwang, as the breakaway launched by his quick throw out was eventually polished off by Luis Olmo Cañas with a practised ease.
This was what the Gunners' Japanese boss Tetsuma Sakakibara had been aiming for from the start, and they would shift into a stalling mode that had the Birds either reduced to harmless passing, or chasing the ball down. The first fifteen minutes of the second half went by with Grilled not even getting a shot off, which had
Dan Alstani try to fix the situation by bringing
Wu Ping De and
Lim An Keng on, for
Mohd Marzuki Khairul and
Hisham Zubari.
There would be an immediate if brief uptick in Grilled Birds' offensive quality, with Lim willing to gamble on more difficult through balls. The first - and perhaps the best - of those came two minutes after his arrival, and was just about held up by Hwang, who awaited support.
Leongīns Luško was left staring at the ball with an open shot from ten yards, but he tried instead to close the distance, which ended with Vieilledent diving at his feet.
That was all Grilled had in the way of clear opportunities up until the final four minutes, that was about when some exhaustion finally caught up with the Gunners. Lim's persistence had him finally force his way past Aap, but the goalkeeper had positioned himself too well, and blocked his very decent effort to the far post without too much difficulty.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko tried to retrieve it before Kamil Baštinec, but could only secure himself a yellow card, with the defender placing himself between Hein and the ball.
This did not prevent the Birds from coming back at the Gunners, as the latter's attempt to get Cañas to the corner flag didn't come off as planned. Camille Vieilledent was Svedala's hero here, as he pulled off two great saves in quick succession, the first from an absolute banger off Hwang's big right boot. Vieilledent had barely gotten back on his feet as
Phillip Nagata bore down from the right side of the box, and he was perhaps fortunate that the winger was thrown off his stride by Deivis Jiménez's looming presence.
With just a minute of regular time remaining as
Paulino Trindade entered as a last-ditch sub for
Johann Schwietzer, the Gunners fans must have thought that they had it in the bag, and they cheered Eero Koskela's brutal takedown of
Ananda Hettiarachchi a little too readily. This promptly died down as Luško delivered a hanging free-kick with most of the Grilled team mobbing the Svedala penalty area, and
Chia Kwang Tse emerged with a resounding volley straight into the roof of the net.
Chad Thach was first to the ball too almost before it landed onto the turf inside goal, and he would sprint with it back to the centre circle for the restart. Still, the Grilled support had to be hoping against hope as the Birds set up for a rugby-style kick-off that had Trindade knock it back for Marcol to loft up, but it somehow came off after the Gunners headed it back the first time, with
Hwang Teck Fu finding a last-gasp equalizer on the putback.
