Seared Into Consciousness
Resounding Response
Grilled put last weekend's demoralising spanking behind them, as they trounced winless AdidasFC 6-1 at home. With an important Cup match just three days away,
Niculae Stanca felt it prudent to keep a couple of his key staff wrapped up in cotton wool, namely
Abdul bin Jantan and new guy
Wong Ping Shun. Still, it was perhaps a more devastating lineup than usual as
Shiya Shaahee and
Low Aik Jia were given free reign on the wings, and they repaid Stanca with a spate of assists.
Adidas weren't about to slug it out, looking at the two banks of five that they fielded, which was however just what the Birds wanted. The ultra-defensive focus hadn't helped too much in previous league matches either, but for a developing side with a wage bill scarcely a quarter of what might be expected for the division, it was a logical choice to make.
Bad luck struck the visitors when
Zhao Jing Wei swept at the ball and wound up laying Argentine arrival Santiago Alperin flat on his face, ending only his third appearance for AdidasFC in agony. Zhao would accept his booking without protest, and the visiting fans got a milestone to remember shortly after.
The Birds came close to scoring through Chow after a sustained siege, but Serwacy Matyjaszek made a crucial interception, and picked out Aaditya Singh on the left with a flighted forty-yard ball. AdidasFC broke at pace down either flank, and Singh held his nerve to send a curling cross just beyond the retreating Grilled centrebacks over to Turkish star turn Berke Tarı, who fired right at
Edmund Kryus from a tight angle.
Inexplicably, Kryus didn't move as if turned to stone, and the visiting stands erupted at witnessing their club's first goal of the season.
The Grilled support refused to get too worried as yet, since they were still creating with regularity, and
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim restored parity in the 30th minute. For all his talk about being indifferent to his suppliers, it was evident that he possesses a special chemistry with Shaahee, going by how the two again broke forward at the exact same instant.
They repeated the feat two minutes later, with Shaahee sending in a hanging cross this time with the outside of his boot. Mohd Safri held back out of experience, and obtained an easy header after young Ang Ze Yao tried to track the path of the ball closely to no avail.
It became three when
Woon Shun An picked up on some flustered passing between the AdidasFC fullbacks, and after that it was simply a question of how many Grilled would win it by.
Tian Yonghang sounded the horn for the second half, as Low began to play his way into prominence after a subdued first forty-five minutes. He whipped in a skimming effort that might have gone in untouched, but Tian made sure by leaping in to redirect it past Rosario Milanesi.
Low was certainly not shy about attempting shots, but he would not be begrudged them, from the quality they showed. AdidasFC would twice be saved by the crossbar, with Low dashing a fierce volley onto it in the 64th minute, which was immediately followed by
Qassem Madaini narrowly missing out from a direct free-kick.
If the first half was characterized by the understanding between Mohd Safri and Shaahee, Tian and Low was the story of the second, as the 20 year-old speed merchant and the 27 year-old dancer combined their strengths to deadly effect. Nobody wanted to cover Low as he raced the width of the pitch, which gave him an opening to find Tian with an unorthodox sidefooted through lob, and Tian did the rest.
The duo completed their hat-trick of assists and goals respectively in the 80th minute when Low slipped it through for Tian to weave by Choo Wai Pin elegantly. The visitors then made one last attempt to salvage a late reply, but Liu Wai Kum's tumble in the penalty area was a little too contrived for the referee's taste.
