Skanks Spanked
Wong Woos Fans
Niculae Stanca was granted a temporary reprive from his troubles as his chosen took back a 4-2 win from their first-ever trip to the Stadium Of Unity, despite it being a fifteen-minute drive from The Cooking Pot, and being situated over the grounds of the former Great Bluedragon Stadium.
Wong Ping Shun's sharpness will buy his coach some time, going by his flair-ridden goal and assist.
Still smarting from the disastrous midweek collapse against Saraca, Grilled nevertheless stuck with reserve goalie
Hovaness Noubaryan in goal, an unsettling hint at how severe
Edmund Kryus' inner demons could be. Otherwise, it was more of the same, with the only twiddles being
Rashid bin Ahmad picked in a flat back two, and new man Wong put on the inside.
It is probably fair to say that the SKANKS have not been enjoying this division, though, with their only points thus far coming from a walkover. Still, they have scored at least two goals in each of their other four league games, a sign that their attack is working well enough; this is, of course, a malady shared with the Birds, who have taken their fair share of losses from defensive ineptitude.
SKANKS gaffer Sebastian De Biase has attempted to shore up their weakness in the most direct way possible, splashing S$7 million on outstanding young Swedish goalie Per Wettergren, as well as S$4.5 million on 23 year-old Spanish wingback Juan Nogueras, in the past weeks, in addition handing them the No. 1 and 2 jerseys. They certainly looked steady enough early, and it was the hosts who scored first through Luka Fehrbelliner's thrust through the middle, after covering the length of the pitch.
Stanca's face was a mask at that, but he surely recognized the precariousness of his position. Worse, Grilled were making little headway, and SKANKS even had the forwards compelled to defend, when the normally-placid
Tian Yonghang inadvertently tipped the balance with a bad tackle on star Austrian dangerman Maximilian Lässer.
Lässer, who had been reported as starting despite a niggle, had to be ferried off, and while his replacement Klaudiusz Górski was a competent enough striker, he lacked that extra edge that had distracted Grilled. Indeed, the Birds hit back straight from the restart,
Zhu Changchun steaming in after
Zhao Jing Wei played him in.
There were a couple of other notable attempts from the visitors before half-time, with Wong blasting a painful introduction into Giani Negreanu's belly, as he claimed his first free-kick.
Chow Ying Lee was then inches from meeting
Abdul bin Jantan's cross outright, but his nick could only send the ball rolling wide of the post.
Tian Yonghang set things straight with a collected finish in the 52nd minute, which brought much relief to the bench, but the hosts followed with their customary second goal, with
Rashid bin Ahmad losing out to the unexpected moves of Pedro Pablo González on the left. Abd Rahim Jalil simply had to race in from the other flank to catch Noubaryan out of position.
A draw wouldn't be enough to save Stanca's head, and fortunately his newest signing was there to save him;
Wong Ping Shun's Cup debut was forgettable despite a personally good showing, and he was determined that his league one not end in the same way. Exhibiting the mix of traits that had seen Grilled's scouts pursue him so doggedly, he weaved past one defender before holding a second back, to put Grilled back in the lead.
Walter Ross came in for
Qassem Madaini in the 80th, and before the minute was out,
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim ensured victory with a magnificent header from Wong's corner, making up for his earlier start miss off another of bin Jantan's crosses.
