Day Of Reiniconking
Fans In Uproar
As if the 7-0 defeat to United weren't bad enough,
Niculae Stanca had supporters calling for his head after he stuck with another ultra-defensive 5-5-0 for Yew Tea's visit. The former S-League representatives said thank you very much, as their German striker Hannes-Noah Reinicke pillaged four goals to leave the Birds in fourth place.
The Cooking Pot still managed to attract over 60000 spectators, most of whom likely thought last week's fiasco was a one-off, and could not believe their eyes when the match programme was handed out. While
Walter Ross and
Hilal Bakhtiar will be grateful to be handed starts, it was not what the general fan was looking forward to, and they were uncharacteristically chilly as the team jogged out.
Yew Tea in contrast paraded their strongest side bar Frédéric Renault, as they looked to make a mark for next season. The omens weren't good for the hosts, and the muttering began when Bakhtiar reprised his worrying tendency for questionable passes in the eighth minute, as he tried to chip it short to his goalie when surrounded in the box. Reinicke saw through that completely, and threw himself into the header perfectly.
Grilled were having serious problems stopping the visitors' wide game, as both wingbacks struggled in the face of genuine pace in the case of Dimitar Baliev, and size in the case of former Latvian youth international Aigars Beierbahs. Beierbahs demonstrated a cultured left foot in the 21st minute, and only
Rashid bin Ahmad's awareness allowed him to clear at the last moment with an overhead kick.
That proved only a temporary respite as the Birds were torn up on the wings, and Reinicke scored one after another to claim his hat-trick by half-time. The German was literally undefendable at this stage of the game, and even Rashid, who is probably currently Grilled's best defender, could not help but be consistently a step behind.
Some seats were empty by the time
Chow Ying Lee was caught late by Argentine hard man Mauricio Silva Mendoza, which had Stanca pointing fingers from the sidelines. Danish referee Heine Götterup felt that it was only worthy of a yellow, though, even as Chow had to be stretchered off.
Pompeo Bellamoli came on to fill the left wing spot to ironic cheers.
Bellamoli did spark Grilled's most adventurous move of the day as he boldly took it all the way down the wing after receiving the ball, forcing Jari Talamonti to poke it out for a corner.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim would not pass that one up, as he attacked the inswinger fearlessly, meeting it just before the glove of Damián San Gil Cortázar. 3-1.
The match would be remembered for one man only, however, as Reinicke cancelled that out after another complete hash in the Birds defence. Having five at the back isn't too useful without good understanding, and there was precious little of that when
Zhu Changchun and
Qassem Madaini watched each other as the German stole in without hesitation.
Wong Tian Han got down too soon, and Reinicke simply rounded him for a simple tap-in.
After half-time, The Pot was mostly empty, as throngs of the Grilled faithful had seen the writing on the wall. The players had to stay, however, and they went about the motions with a spell of fairly effective harassment, though it was clear that their hearts weren't in it.
Mendoza was certainly still taking it seriously, however, and after another dangerous tackle, this time on
Low Aik Jia, the referee immediately showed him a second yellow. Yew Tea weren't too affected by being a man down, and Drahomír Hecl made it 5-1 after Bakhtiar was muscled off the ball by Baliev.
By the time
Wong Tian Han denied Jari Talamonti from a wickedly hard header, only pockets of die-hards were left in the home section, which doesn't bode well for Stanca's future at the helm. Indeed, the Romanian disappointingly disappeared into the tunnel after ordering his only substitution,
Djan Bacelar on for
Zhu Changchun, possibly to prepare for the grilling to follow.
