All For Two
Shiya Shines
With weather conditions actually fairly fine for once,
Dan Seng kept a morale-boosting clean sheet as Grilled ousted Jakarta-based Division Two club allsports 2-0 at The Cooking Pot. Eighteen year-old wonderkid Samie Hardiyan featured for the full ninety and was one to watch, but a lack of midfield strength ultimately doomed the visitors to defeat.
It was probably a bit too much to expect a 17 year-old to hold the centre by himself, but this was what Kusnaeni Subaktiar was told to do, and if allsports were hoping that the width offered by Danu Muda and Yongki Agathon would make up for it, they were to be disappointed. The young team were slick enough when they had the ball, but frequently lost it when trying to pass it on.
The Birds, if not exactly flying, knew their roles, and
Shiya Shaahee gave
Niculae Stanca a real selection headache by continuing to be a model citizen. Nonstop running was followed in the 18th minute by a perceptive finish as he sent the ball between Rachmadsyah Simangunsong's legs to deceive the unsighted Aga Wijayanto, and the head coach will now have to think very hard about whether the winger's attacking output can make up for his sometimes peripheral influence for the big one against newbies.
It might be over the top to label twelve goals in fourteen appearances as disappointing, but that is just how
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim is being viewed by some fans, his glaring misses overwhelming his output. One of these occurred in the 26th minute, when he simply had to send it straight to score, but Mohd Safri went for the spectacular and wound up threatening the floodlights.
He was soon joined in the dock by
Djan Bacelar, who was nominated to take the penalty kick awarded due to a shove on
Pompeo Bellamoli. The execution was sedate enough that Wijayanto dove in the right direction without any problems, but he didn't have to do anything in the end as the effort rolled wide.
Ling Fuquan then received the only booking of the game for dissent, before
Leong Wan Kang put an end to what was a rather dreary stretch with a rousing effort through the middle.
The second half saw
Liang Liyong, whom the press have suggested as not being wholly pleased at being marginalized from the first team, come in for
Chow Ying Lee. There was little that suggested that Liang would see his fortunes change, though, as he became and remained mostly anonymous throughout.
It was just not Mohd Safri's day as, this time through no fault of his own, he was denied yet again. The quicksilver twist and cut was quintessentially Tian, while the speed that followed mirrored Chow, but all it led to was a rocking of the crossbar.
Shaahee was next in line to come off,
lu Zunwen taking over, but there would be no more goals as
Ling Fuquan's astounding assist to Leong was neutered by a no less wonderful save from the allsports goalie.
Gleb Dorogan received plenty of applause when he took over the armband from
Hilal Bakhtiar in the final minute, but there are few signs that he will make his first-team return either.
