Some Kismet, Finally
Yonghang Rampage
Grilled shook off a poor sequence of two losses and a draw in their last four games to wrest second place from SKF F.C., who might have felt hard done by after executing their gameplan to a T. However, it all fell in the right places for the Birds' strikers today, and when that happens, they can be simply irresistable, as the six goals between them adequately shows.
While the hosts had hit some bumps after an excellent start, away draws to Young Tigers and Rapala FC were far from disappointing results. Now back at Bearings & Chains, the SKF supporters were clearly confident of a positive outcome against a form-stricked Birds team that had failed to impress for weeks.
Not many had given them too much of a chance after their arrival, but SKF had raised some eyebrows with their harrying midfield style that had upset more than one favourite. Much of this could be put down to Hungarian László Dunavölgyi, who after eight seasons with the club has inserted himself firmly as their heartbeat.
Ably assisted by Danish battler Arne Dyrvig and current national U-20 Jasuli Jasuli, Dunavölgyi led SKF straight into the fray, and after a rather even first ten minutes they went ahead through Austrian Number Nine Manuel Kaindl. Domenico Essig had been especially inspired on the left, and opened it up nicely for Kaindl to burst forth and clip the ball just beyond
Edmund Kryus.
Grilled were not about to lay down at that, and two minutes later
Chow Ying Lee equalised. No-one on the SKF side could be blamed for that as there appeared little danger when Chow was allowed to pick the ball out from some way outside the penalty area, but the uncharacteristic long shot from the forward was simply immaculate, being headed right for the far bottom corner.
It was still SKF who had the upper hand, though, and Grilled were kept busy defending against their constant predations. Essig was a key player in many of those, including their 36th minute goal that saw a brilliant square pass from the Swiss to Ke Xinde on the right. Ke then turned
Qassem Madaini with a spiffy stepover before rolling it in for 2-1.
SKF nearly made it three before half-time when Kaindl turned and struck after being supplied by Jasuli, amidst chants of "so good they named him twice". Fortunately for Grilled, Kryus was on the alert, and the touch he got was enough to send the volley wide onto the post.
Little changed in the second half, and the neutrals would have expected the home side to take it after they controlled most of the proceedings. However, this didn't count on the magic moments that
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim is capable of, and the Birds were level again in the 58th minute when their star man conjured a goal from next to nothing.
Two such unpreventable goals can be hard to take, and SKF finally had their lapse in the 74th minute, when the slightly overconfident Sofoklis Froussos attempted to dribble his way out of trouble. His feint would have worked nine times out of ten, but
Tian Yonghang read it too well, and stuck his leg out in the other direction. A short tussle later, Tian delivered the Birds' first lead of the day.
It lasted barely a minute however as Che Harun bin Omar hit back following a magnificent charge by Ke down the left, but then Tian was back again, as he lobbed Gawyler with a near-supernaturally smooth stroke in the 78th minute for 4-3.
The home fans finally quietened down a bit, not helped by their Russian captain Kirill Kurapov showing signs of having overexerted himself in chasing the game. He tried but couldn't stick to Chow when
lu Zunwen sent in an early cross in the 81st, leaving Chow free to execute a demanding but effective airborne volley that flew straight in.
SKF's hopes were finally extinguished once and for all when Tian got his hat-trick and gave Grilled a three-goal advantage three minutes later,
Abdul bin Jantan getting the better of the winded Kurapov for once.
