Legs Buckled
Take Note Of Tang
Another Cup campaign petered out prematurely, as the Birds crashed out by two goals to four against the Saraca Swashbucklers. Saraca, founded by the owner of former Cup winners FC Tenochtitlán, were simply too active for Grilled's overworked players, and after a less-assured start went forward and never looked back.
The Swashbucklers had won their last four in a row, with much of it attributable to their developing midfield set of Lim Wei Feng, Wong Ah Ping and national U-20 representative Yap Chin Wai. Their mode of play has not been overly complicated, involving wingers Mohd Aiman Wong bin Japperi and Adrian Tang plying Thai centre forward Pichai Prasertsakul from the flanks, but it has worked well for them thus far.
Grilled were not about to take this lightly as they fielded a full first team, and this was enough to shake the hosts up as they took time to come to grips with the crisp movement. The Birds commandeered the game, and in the eighth minute
Zhao Jing Wei rifled in his fifth goal in as many outings, cleaning up after
Abdul bin Jantan was held up on the right.
It looked like plain sailing at this point, as the Swashbucklers could do little more than defend for their lives, but this they managed in the end. Andorran captain Artur de Nadal functioned as a temporary sweeper in this period, which probably saved them from falling irretrievably behind.
Their break came against the run of play four minutes from half-time, when the precocious Adrian Tang, a big hit with their youth side the Scions, flummoxed
Ling Fuquan and made his way unopposed to the edge of the penalty area. Madaini had to come across while
Woon Shun An fought to cover Prasertsakul, but was ultimately unable to stop him from putting a header over
Edmund Kryus.
It was a disappointing end to a game that the Birds had dominated in spirit, if not in statistics, though all seemed well when
Chow Ying Lee again shot them ahead in the 54th minute.
Tian Yonghang had waited for the exact instant that his partners had forced their Saraca markers to swop partners to release his pass, and the couple of seconds of confusion was sufficient for Chow to get away and bang it past Indonesian goalkeeper Zulfahmi Sandy.
Things all began to go wrong after this, however, as dribbles and passes started to go woefully astray. The home team in contrast got their act together, and this combination soon yielded another equaliser for Saraca. Lim Wei Feng had been helping out everwhere, which allowed him to hit the jackpot when de Nadal slipped through in the 60th minute. Confronted with an extra man, the Birds backline did the best they could, but couldn't account for Lim.
The Swashbucklers piled it on in the very next minute, and nothing should be taken from Tang's pure skill when he ghosted past Madaini ever so naturally, before floating a precise curler around Kryus and into the top corner. The crowd went absolutely berserk at this, with Grilled's men mostly puttering about with their heads down as Tang and company celebrated vigourously.
There was little indication that Grilled had either the intent or the energy to mount a response, and after a few lacklustre attacks, the hosts ended it through Wong Ah Ping's collected finish in the 75th minute, once more from a cross.
