Leever Gone
Woon Wows
Grilled progressed to the sixth round of the Cup without a hitch, as they ousted Leeverbird FC in an avian duel. Leeverbird pinned their ambitions on hometown hero Liu Yishan finding some of the magic that had seen him reap a hat-trick against bonebreakers on Sunday, but a lack of possession meant that he would find no handle on which to hold.
With the second Masters round tomorrow, Grilled were understandably less than willing to risk too many of their starters, but safety dictated that most of them appeared anywhere. With
Zhu Changchun recuperating,
Abdul bin Jantan returned to centre midfield, while
Low Aik Jia stationed himself at left wing.
Chow Ying Lee was held back as
Che Harun bin Sabtu served as target man, with
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim and
Tian Yonghang supporting at Fortress Anfield. They had an unexpectedly comfortable start as Woon Feng Yao and Elio Zordan were well out of sorts, and not ten minutes had gone by when
Woon Shun An hammered hom from Low's pinpoint cross.
It was all going too smoothly for the visiting Birds, and
Tian Yonghang doubled the lead in the 18th minute from just outside the box. Liu was a picture of industry up top, and Leever's defence had its moments, but they were just lost after the midfield was overrun.
Che Harun fluffed a golden opportunity after 35 minutes, as he should have known better than to snatch at his shot. Not that it mattered, with
Gene Filippone making it three soon after, as the Swiss begins to register the trademark on cheeky lobs.
The match was beginning to resemble Monday's against the Eggmen, at least for the scoresheet on Grilled's side - after a yellow and a miss by bin Jantan,
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim became the fourth common scorer, as he got his standard headed goal from a corner.
There was now no need to put the big guns in harm's way, and
Tian Yonghang had no qualms about handing over the captain's armband in the 75th minute, as he was substituted by
Pompeo Bellamoli. Woon then nabbed a second with an acrobatic effort, to cap another brilliant all-round performance.
Wong Ping Shun completed the scoring with a self-made shot in the 80th minute, while Bellamoli was unlucky to see a nice move end with it clattering the goalpost. Che Harun then ended the match as captain, after bin Jantan himself was replaced by
Nicola Vandeneynde, and
Gene Filippone by
Qassem Madaini.
