Low Energy Detonation
Woon Worked Over
The Birds entered the sixth round of the Cup for the fourth straight season by blowing through Sporting Supernova 5-2, salving Sunday's defeat by the same scoreline. A downpour had limited attendance at Stade Nouveau, but this clearly did not dampen the enthusiasm of centreback Massimiliano Padulo and midfielder Janne Terentjeff in the pre-match warm-up.
Grilled's hopes of an instant impact were further diminished by the grit of Padulo's defensive partner Gadi Oscar, who broke up several budding attacks with his physicality. This riled
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim up enough to make a rare appeal to referee Davy Juguet, who dismissed it with an amused smile.
The Division Four leaders were holding up extremely well to the might of what was essentially a Grilled first team, highlighted by their very disciplined response to a novel free-kick plot. In fact, it was good enough that goalie Jan Carlsson had the time to aim a huge goal kick at Bruno Rocha, who went down in the ensuing struggle against
Rashid bin Ahmad a yard inside the penalty area.
This was Sporting's big break, as Juguet pointed to the spot after consulting with his linesman, and Oscar took extra care when placing the ball on the spot as the crowd roared constant approval. Ironically, the rain that had helped him at the other end conspired against him here, as he scooped the ball straight at
Edmund Kryus, who still had to react quickly to block it over the bar.
Jolted into action by that, the Birds got dug in, and Chow laboured to grind home a first goal in the 19th minute. There was little of Chow's usual fluid running on display, just pure graft as he battled every step of the way shoulder-to-shoulder against Padulo, in an ugly yet necessary adaptation.
Fans expecting some glitter did have their turn in the 36th minute, as new arrival
Low Aik Jia established himself as a Cup specialist, with his third of the competition.
Zhu Changchun had the awareness to gauge Low's intentions, but the new Number Eight nevertheless had to take it past his marker with his first touch, and then get it over Carlsson, both of which he achieved gracefully.
Sporting were not yet discouraged, and spurred on by their terrific home support, they exhibited the resilience that has seen them winning nine straight coming into the game. A coordinated attack sweeping right up the pitch overwhelmed the Birds' two defenders, and Rocha did his job with a powerful finish past Kryus.
Ling Fuquan had an embarassing lapse in the second half as he dallied on what should have been a certain goal, but it was of no great concern as Low mopped up yet another through ball to make it 3-1. That figured highly in the tactical assessment of both coaches, going by how they followed it with five substitutions in total, with
Niculae Stanca giving
Leong Wan Kang and
Pompeo Bellamoli a go, while Jérémy Soulier rolled the dice with fresh legs.
It was the Birds who came out the better, however, as their two inclusions began closing down on the hosts' defenders without mercy, leaving them vulnerable to sudden surges. Chow got his second in the 63rd minute thus, while
Woon Shun An's loitering further up was rewarded after Leong blocked Oscar ever so slightly from a square pass, allowing him to snatch it and make it 5-1.
The game was likely up, but Sporting were not about to lie down. Determined to at least give their faithful a departure on a high note, they went at the Birds with all the ferocity of a side still chasing a result, and longtime favourite Sng Yong Shi supplied that with a header born of sheer will in the 76th. Rashid protested that the cross had come off Sng's arm in the motion, but few of his teammates bothered to join in.
Mission accomplished,
Djan Bacelar transferred his captaincy to Zhu before handing his post over to
Shiya Shaahee, as Grilled hunkered down for the final minutes.
