Snipped On Slip
Remco Reborn
The Birds strolled into the fourth round of their Cup defence by brushing semi-professional club Running with Scissors aside, with the 10-0 final score a fair reflection of the one-sided affair. Scissors packed the penalty area early on, but were out of it once
Low Aik Jia found the net in the 16th minute with a neat shuffle past Mohd Ariffadillah bin Mohd Hanafiah.
Scissors skipper Abd Rauf bin Mustaffa was game, but wound up doing most of his directing in front of his own six-yard box, despite being a forward. The hosts had resolved to embark upon a ninety-minute exhibition of defence in depth from the get-go, which had the desired effect before Low went through.
After that, Abd Rauf then stationed himself upfield in the hopes of poaching an equaliser, and his repositioning paradoxically relieved his side somewhat - but not for long, as
Chow Ying Lee banged a second in after 33 minute, having previously rocked the bar.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim then nodded in from a corner for the second time in as many matches, with his assistant being
Che Harun bin Sabtu this go.
Next up was
Remco van der Ban, who finally opened his Birds account in his fifth appearance. With there not being much to do at the back, the restless Spaniard ranged far from his centreback posting, and fortuitously poked one in when
Tian Yonghang came calling. A few minutes later,
Chow Ying Lee beat the entire left defence of Scissors on his own, and Remco again profited by cleaning up after Mohd Ariffadillah's stop.
Chow and Low swapped positions for the second half, but this didn't affect business in the slightest, and Mohd Safri claimed his second in the 55th minute. Again, it was Che Harun who put the ball into the box, but in this case
Abdul bin Jantan flicked it on with the back of his head, before Mohd Safri swooped in with the defenders blindsided.
Leong Wan Kang had an off-day, perhaps best summed up by when he was hauled up for being in the way of a free-kick. The offence seemed to be unintentional, but the young hothead did not help his case by protesting voraciously, prompting Helge Lauch to flash his yellow card.
Abdul bin Jantan helped a through pass on its way for his twentieth competitive goal for Grilled, before being taken off to let
Joan Cisquell stretch his legs. This was followed up by perhaps the pick of the game, and
Ling Fuquan added to his collection of memorable goals, with his mid-air swipe at a wild cross sending the ball flying in at the top corner.
Che Harun bin Sabtu then rolled another penalty in, given after Yeo Soon Wei brought Chow down, and came off the worse for. The Scissors fans did applaud Yeo as he hobbled away, in appreciation of his efforts, even as their Cup run was formally buried by
Hilal Bakhtiar putting in Grilled's tenth and final goal.
