Large One Netted
Delmont Danger
Despite the visitors bringing but a weakened side, the feeling about the ground was that the 4-1 win over singnet_utd, currently placed second in the S-League, was an important result. True, big guns like Eduard Wendt and the just-capped Fang Kunxian were missing, but national team midfielder Ling Zhicheng did sit in front of the defence, and the likes of Pascal Durlinger, Cyprien Delmont and the aging but still deadly Algernon Habeshaw were there for the crowd.
If singnet_utd had commitments to think about, despite Isle of Flames once again wrapping up the title early, Grilled could play their strongest lineup after enjoying a walkover on Sunday. It was evidently going to be a very competitive occasion after all, to the delight of the few thousand who had managed to take time off work to bear witness.
Their Portuguese coach Diogo Egas hadn't gotten singnet_utd to where they were by being inflexible, and he opted for a cautious 5-4-1, with the intelligent Cyprien Delmont asked to prod at the Birds' defence. It was
Tian Yonghang who made the first impression, however, as he slipped the ball between Pietro Gilardone's legs to open a clear path to goal, to a roar of approval from the stands. Egas, who had played himself as goalkeeper with Nicola Pillitu training as a defender, couldn't stop Tian's strike.
Given that singnet_utd were playing men out of position along with reserves, they were still scarily efficient in spurts.
Ling Fuquan came close with a very long range strike to ease the pressure, but Delmont then displayed the sort of quality that persuaded singnet_utd to part with S$6.6 million for him, despite him being on the wrong side of thirty. Forcing
Qassem Madaini into giving away a corner, he leant back to clip the headed-on corner over Wong in what could only be described as sheer genius.
Zhu Changchun would regain the lead for Grilled before half-time with an only slightly less fetching move; with
Wong Ping Shun drifting wide and squaring it, Zhu stabbed at the falling ball with such assurance that few doubted that it would sail into the top corner, once it left his feet. In his urgency to pull back again before the break, singnet_utd lost it at the back, and Sebald Strauß felled
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim for a straight booking.
Grilled continued to press their advantage, and
Chow Ying Lee shaved the crossbar with a nice lob in the 57th minute. Egas could only chastise himself as his attempted quick restart was anticipated by Tian, forcing Durlinger to stop him before he got too close. However,
Wong Ping Shun converted it anyway with a dipping free-kick.
Still hoping to salvage the game, Franciszek Mostowski came on for a tiring Delmont, and immediately worried Ling with his deft dribbling. Wisely, the Birds decided to keep the ball from him as far as possible, and after Chow was denied again, this time though Egas' good save,
Rashid bin Ahmad finally put the visitors away with a solid low shot coming in from the left.
That was essentially it as singnet_utd shifted to damage limitation mode, and not too soon as
Zhao Jing Wei laid what could have been a painful tackle on Mostowski. Dutch winger Driek Wels came on, but didn't get the support he wanted as Grilled were happy to sit on their lead too.
