Timer Ran Down
Bacelar Bang On
There was no slip-up in the Cup as Grilled recorded back-to-back 11-0 wins, this time over Fifth Division hopefuls Timerwolves. It had been another successful season for the part-timers, who defended their V.214 title before eliminating ExorcistDrift on penalties last week, but they nevertheless had nothing on Grilled's mixed team.
This New Year's Day fixture would mark the Birds' 500th competitive victory if the outcome was as expected, and frankly there was little to suggest that the Wolves would spring anything. Ten minutes in, and Grilled were already two up, with
Tian Yonghang and
Pompeo Bellamoli both beathing 56 year-old goalie Sri Jaafar bin Abd Karim on their first attempts.
Age by itself was not a factor, though, as veteran Brazilian utility man
Djan Bacelar proved. Played at forward for the day, he had a major part in the next three goals, sneaking through to stroke in the third before disguising a free-kick convincingly for
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim to score unhindered.
Colby Awyong then headed in a Bacelar corner, before Mohd Safri went it himself to make the half-time score 6-0.
There was quite little to be said about the hosts, who to be fair were uniformly at least a decade older than their opponents, though longstanding captain Jiang Sony did draw some rousing cheers from the spectators when he fooled
Hilal Bakhtiar after the restart. No consolation, however, as
Ling Fuquan had anticipated it.
Leong Wan Kang kept his flagging hopes of a regular spot alive with a dazzling volley over Sri Jaafar, whose day came to a premature end when the uncompromising
Chow Ying Lee clattered into him in a straight race. Though Chow put it in the back of the net, it was ultimately disallowed for the contact, for which the 76 year-old backup Goh Long Pin had to come on.
It was not an understatement to say that Grilled were rather more circumspect about rushing the keeper after that, but Goh's venerable age didn't stop the Birds' eager attackers from desiring more goals. The wiry Goh wound up to have the sprightliness of a man half his age, but he was understandably unable to stop Bellamoli and Tian from again scoring in succession.
His game attempt at a dive during Bacelar's penalty was warmly appreciated even by the visiting fans, though, especially as the Brazilian wrapped up his hat-trick immediately afterwards.
