United In Egress
Ling Rings In
Geylang recreational side Brothers@United left as one as they were demolished 11-0 by Grilled on the day, with
Zhu Changchun a welcome sight on the left. lu Zunwen's departure left room for
Leong Wan Kang in attacking midfield, with
Tian Yonghang captaining the team as a withdrawn forward.
The hosts have not had the best of records in the Cup, having only progressed past the first round twice in six seasons, but they did give the Birds a good exercise with their admirable workrate and dogged perseverance in the first half-hour, with Yip Sze Kong even pressing
Hovaness Noubaryan into service with some potshots.
Of course, they would find it hard to maintain that effort, as Grilled's patient professionals well knew, and they let Brothers run themselves into the ground before getting started.
Chow Ying Lee was slightly more impatient than the rest, getting himself booked for a totally unnecessary shirt pull on Toh Guang Su that had
Niculae Stanca shaking his head exaggeratedly.
Not that it made a difference in the larger scheme of things, as Chow found his repayment five minutes later, arriving uninvited at the back post to take advantage of
Tian Yonghang's glamourous turns. After brave captain Yeoh Ping Teck had to limp off following a tackle too many, their heart wavered ever more slightly, and
Colby Awyong tapped in a second.
More followed from
Zhu Changchun and
Ling Fuquan, as Grilled basically abandoned their formation discipline when faced with an opponent in disarray, and Chow got his anticipated milestone hundredth competitive goal when he circled Aw Yew Hao impressively on the outside before finding a gap by the goalie's feet.
The slaughter would continue after a slow first ten minutes of the second half that had the Brothers reprise their earlier heroics, but their gas ran out sooner this time, and the adventurous Colby advanced to strike in the 55th. Chow, having done his share of scoring, raced through to feed Tian, which was followed by Ling packing heat through the middle.
Eight up, Stanca made his changes, putting oldies
Qassem Madaini and
Gleb Dorogan on in defence. Madaini, Grilled's usual penalty specialist, graciously allowed the young Leong to take it after
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim was upended right on the edge of the box, and Leong gleefully sidefooted it textbook-style.
The day would be
Ling Fuquan's ultimately, with the Wings transfer record holder thoroughly enjoying himself with his raids from the right wing. At times, it really looked as if he might be better used as a winger, as it was when he broke through and nutmegged Liu Wei Liang without slowing down to complete his treble.
Mohd Safri ensured that he would not leave without a goal to show with a scrambled header after an ill-advised headed backpass that was far too high and short five minutes from time, which left time for hat-trick hero Ling to stroll off to acclamation from the away stands in the Birds' final substitution.
