Not Over Yet
Wong Not Done
The Birds earned themselves the barest of lifelines with a magnificent 4-1 result at home against Yew Tea, after The Void Deck were held to a draw by All Stars Team. It didn't look like happening for awhile after the visitors took a justified lead, but some excellent improvisation in the second half carried Grilled through to a big final day.
While this Yew Tea side had probably underperformed overall this campaign, they were coming off good victories over -= Manchester United =- and All Stars Team in the league, with Bulgarian winger Dimitar Baliev tearing it down the left before picking up a knock against Stars. It turned out to be a superficial muscle pull, however, and he was ready and raring to go against the Birds today.
According to the Grilled medical team,
Zhao Jing Wei had likewise recovered, but
Djan Bacelar made the late call not to include him in the sixteen-man matchday squad.
Clément Meyer would stay in the side, and as it turned out, the Frenchman more than justified his inclusion with his workrate and reading of the game.
There was little that he or any of the Grilled players could have done in the first ten minutes, that said, as Yew Tea came out punching. Relentless attacks across the breadth of The Cooking Pot's pitch gave the Birds no room for pause, and the opener, from Trondar Gulbrandsen off Oleg Sitnikov's nifty one-two, was richly deserved.
This dampened the already less-than-overwhelming support from the home sections somewhat, but Grlled were not about to mourn prematurely, and equalised with some luck on their next foray.
Wong Ping Shun swung inside and lashed in a shot that was going wide, before it struck a defender's shoulder and looped languidly into the far side of goal.
Wong had the decency to appear slightly sheepish at that, and Yew Tea continued monopolising the best opportunities with their wingers folding in to help out.
Ling Fuquan and
Tian Yonghang both got booked for tactical fouls, which means that the former will be suspended for the match against Young Tigers.
They were helped by Baliev being constrained by his team's system, and the Birds were not too disappointed at reaching half-time still level. It was hard to see how they were going to win this, however, until
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim went back to his usual ways with a rip-roaring worldie from over twenty-five metres that sent the stadium into overdrive.
This was the sort of wizardry that Mohd Safri had made his name on, and opposing goalkeeper Damián San Gil Cortázar allowed himself a wry smile as he picked it out of his net. Cortázar would be truly outraged ten minutes later, when some incredibly silly ball-watching by countryman Raúl Arévalo Morales allowed Meyer in cheaply; Cortázar narrowed the angles by the book, but Meyer confidently lured him to commit before scooting by.
The visitors were still hopeful of finding their way back, but such thoughts were put to bed in the 71st minute, when Wong dazzled his way through to make it 4-1. It could have would up being slightly embarassing had Grilled's other forwards come good on their attempts, but some fevered defending - in particular by Morales, who did well to prevent a certain fifth with a late nudge - kept their respectability intact.
