M-S Missed
Strolling On
Grilled entered the fifth round of the Cup without too much incident, as they eased past Division Four league leaders Majulah Singapura 4-0. M-S, as they are fondly known by their followers, are an offshoot of England-based Malcolm Mania, but no less serious competitors for that as their twenty-nil goal difference in Iv.41 suggests.
In fact, former Rajah XI youth goalie Kong Wee Jin had not conceded a single goal in his 540 minutes of play this season, an impressive feat at any level. However, it would not last against the Birds, and a merciless
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim shattered Kong's perfection in under three minutes.
Grilled had fielded nearly all their regulars, with the exception of
Zhu Changchun sitting out for
Che Harun bin Sabtu to lead the line, if in a more free-form setup. It was still too much for the hosts, though, who could be lauded for not altering their customary 3-5-2 setup at Chip Bee Gardens.
The folly of this boldness was seen soon enough, as an adventurous rush from Siew Shun Keng was halted by
Tian Yonghang, who came away with the ball. M-S did not have the numbers to slow Grilled's charge in response, which led to Mohd Safri slipping through unhindered.
This didn't cause M-S to change their approach, and
Zhao Jing Wei duly doubled Grilled's lead from an advance down the left in the tenth minute. The hosts' attempt at a sleek short passing strategy was simply not working against the vastly more seasoned Grilled men, and despite a tactical foul from Tung Jie Shun,
Gene Filippone made it 3-0 with a superb shot for a defender, off the floated-in free-kick.
It should perhaps have been more, but
Che Harun bin Sabtu dragged his grounder narrowly wide in the 22nd minute. The frantic moments that followed saw
Woon Shun An's terrible luck in front of goal continue with a lob that was headed off the line by Zuhri Ridwan. Zhao followed it up with a snap-shot, but that too was blocked.
Mindful of some important matches coming up next, Grilled lowered the tempo, figuring that three was likely sufficient to see them though. Mohd Safri, of course, never got the message, and after several not-very-well-supported solo runs early in the second half, managed a strike from within a crowd of defenders that came off the post.
In the ensuing mad rush,
Chow Ying Lee was brought down on the goalline by Benjamin Tsum.
Che Harun bin Sabtu raked the free-kick towards the six-yard box apparently without much thought, but
Ling Fuquan emerged from behind a wall of defenders to power it in at the near post.
That would be it for the day, as Zhao and Tian's later efforts were cleared and saved by Kong respectively.
Leong Wan Kang and
Remco van der Ban's five-minute look-sees were uneventful.
