Held Up
Nxumalo Nudge
UNITED SKANKS left The Cooking Pot with a point as the Birds prepared for their titanic duel with Ropelearner FC on Wednesday, and few of the fans who made it were too upset, judging from how they serenaded the side at the end. Of course, it could have been even better had Grilled managed to maintain their two-goal cushion, but getting out without any cards or injuries was a minor strategic victory in itself.
Unaccustomed to being embroiled in a trophy hunt on two fronts at this stage, all eyes were on what head coach
Niculae Stanca would do, and his response unambiguously signalled his priority - he started a rare 3-5-2, leaving out two of Grilled's three first-team strikers, and handed
Djan Bacelar and
Gleb Dorogan only their first and second league starts of the season respectively. In fact, none of Grilled's five regulars on two yellows were called.
UNITED SKANKS kept with their usual lineup for the cross-town trip, and somewhat against expectations, it was Grilled who claimed an early lead. It is fair to say that former captain
Gleb Dorogan hasn't exactly set the league alight since his return, but the 37 year-old could scarcely have chosen a better time to inform supporters that his right boot was still as deadly as ever.
Already turning out to be a step slower than a prime-condition Abd Rahim Jalil on the left, Dorogan demonstrated that such details didn't really matter when he received a square pass some twenty metres out. With everyone expecting Dorogan to try and find
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim, with it being a safe bet that he would not be able to beat his man, Per Wettergren could only gape in wonder as he unleashed a thunderbolt that crashed past him.
That forced the visitors to drastically reevaluate the threat the Dorogan posed, and while the Moldovan never quite repeated that moment, this was enough to hand Grilled the initiative for good. Only luck saved SKANKS from falling further behind in the 18th minute, as Mohd Safri revelled in his role as lone striker, putting it against the post after a cute help-on from Bacelar.
SKANKS, who had not managed to win any of their five most recent league fixtures, seemed at a loss, and while they improved on the defensive end, could not quite assemble a decent attacking combination. The premature end of yet another move frustrated Abd Rahim Jalil to no end just before the half-hour mark, and his display of petulance brought him the only caution of the game.
Grilled's reduced selection appeared to have paid off handsomely when the on-fire Mohd Safri made it 2-0 six minutes into the second half, when he stole behind Giani Negreanu. This bodes very well for the team going into the semifinals, which the home crowd were only too eager to remind themselves of with a rendition of old favourite "
Safri Scores".
The Birds were coasting at this point, and
Woon Shun An could have solidified the lead had his ambitious volley gone just a bit lower. Unfortunately, they began to believe that that actually had it won, and not helped by Stanca's clear instructions to take things down a notch, SKANKS found themselves a way back in.
With seventy minutes gone, the Grilled players were all but saving themselves for a possible run-out on Wednesday, with few wanting to run the chance of a freak call ruling them out. Negreanu thus managed to progress unimpeded to the foot of the box, where he sidefooted neatly right into the bottom corner.
This was still within the Birds' calculations, but disaster struck three minutes later, as Dorogan and
Rashid bin Ahmad were involved in a comical collision while trying to close Abd Rahim Jalil down. Freed, the SKANKS winger bent an amazing cross towards the far post, where South African Number Seven Jabulani Nxumalo rammed it in off his head.
Taken off guard by this sudden reversal in fortunes, Grilled went back into offensive mode, but never quite found that extra something to take them over the line.
