Better Yew Than Us
Same Deadly Duo
Though exhausted from their midweek cup struggle against The Void Deck, the remnants of Grilled's squad managed to make do at Tea Lovers' Joint, as they scrapped to an untidy 3-1 away derby win against Yew Tea.
Without skipper
Tian Yonghang through suspension,
Djan Bacelar opted to shift to a 3-5-2, while
Woon Shun An's absence made handing
Lee Lee Hao his debut an easy decision. Moreover,
Zhao Jing Wei returned after missing the finals, handing the Birds a much-needed late boost.
The hosts had lost their last five league matches, which did not bode well, and further would miss first-choice custodian Ludwig Kilic due to injury. This left German veteran backup Axel Vermeeren to man their goal, but he would at least have the usual strong backline to depend on.
If some had expected Lee to have problems fitting in, they would be disappointed as Grilled's new midfielder eased gracefully into his job; his constant movement proved a huge help to Zhu and Zhao's tired legs, and cumulated in a 14th minute move that saw him penetrate on the right, before feeding
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim for the opener.
The Grilled fans lauded Lee's assist heartily, as the action continued to heat up. Not too long after that, Yew Tea's Wilfried Rancke combined well with Raúl Arévalo Morales on a clever short corner, and the latter got it to Dorin Ţibuleac, who was hanging out at the near post.
Gene Filippone interfered just in time, and distracted him sufficiently to send it against the post.
This sparked a mad rush down the other way, as the players abandoned their positions in a chaotic race. Lone forward Trondar Gulbrandsen wound up shadowing
Ling Fuquan in the Yew Tea box, and although Ling scooped it over, the referee pulled play back for a free-kick.
Clément Meyer took that one quickly, but
Chow Ying Lee's shooting was well below par.
It was simply not the Number Ten's day, as he then had an outstanding divind header stopped brilliantly by Vermeeren. Chow's travails had not ended either, and he was booked two minutes later for obstructing Morales, more due to spacing out than anything.
Grilled's lead always looked vulnerable, as they seemed to have lost something vital with Tian out, and Yew Tea began the second half brightly with a well-earned equaliser. Dimitar Baliev worked his way stealthily up the right, and when the through ball finally came his way, he forwarded it straight to the lurking Gulbrandsen for a classic poacher's goal.
The home side were greatly emboldened by that, and things were getting dicey for the Birds as they barely headed off wave after wave of attacks. However, this would prove to be Yew Tea's undoing in the end, as another long run by Baliev left Meyer free to advance in the 68th. Only Ţibuleac was left behind then, and faced with the impossible task of tracking both Chow and Mohd Safri, he opted for the former only to hand the latter an easy finish.
This shocked Yew Tea back into defensive mode, and they were fortunate to escape when Zhao trundled through only to balloon it. Zhu was then yellow carded for a bad tackle, but Lee closed the resulting free-kick down, and
Wong Ping Shun widened the margin with a fine chip after his first effort was blocked bravely by Vermeeren.
This effectively ended the home side's challenge, and Bacelar gave
Leong Wan Kang and
Qassem Madaini token appearances towards the tail end of a tame final ten minutes.
