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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 54 | W | 2 - 7 | Cup | | Season 48 | L | 2 - 0 | Tournament (Playoffs) |
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History Rhymed
Two To Go
Another five-goal quarterfinals victory over Kang Xi Lai Le has stoked the imagination of the Grilled faithful, many of whom are now salivating at the prospect of more silverware. Though it was over as a contest within half an hour, as before, the Green and Yellow Army certainly didn't mind staying on to soak up the rainy carnival.
Pundits had attached Kang Xi's fate to whether they would be able to challenge in midfield, and it was soon evident that they would not be able to. Steady hand Lim Jia Chang picking up a fracture at the very end of their last league match meant that their youth product James Lim had to start, in a very bad game to be thrown into the deep end.
It only got more ominous once national star Manny Aldro repeatedly failed to get past the not-particularly-speedy
Clément Meyer on Kang Xi's first move, no thanks to the soggy ground. Bereft of their most potent weapon, they soon lapsed into a defensive mood, which would soon prove fatal.
There was an early letoff as a probably wrongly-awarded penalty for
Tian Yonghang's slip in their area was put wide by
Wong Ping Shun, but any tension that resulted was soon released when his corner was dutifully headed down onto the goalline and in, by
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim.
There was a very strong sense of deja vu at that, and it only grew as the Birds forged on as they had the last time. Eager to change the script, Italian forward Damiano Ugoccioni tried to repeat his scoring feat that day with a sneaky nudge into the back of
Gene Filippone, but that was spotted by the eagle-eyed referee.
Chow Ying Lee then too atoned for a prior miss, as he slogged through to make it 2-0 from the mammoth free-kick by
Wong Tian Han, while
Tian Yonghang then made it a full set for Grilled's strikers, with his excellent foresight as to how a bounce would play out in the 25th minute.
The past began to prey ever more powerfully on the spectators' minds, as Kang Xi's two scorers in their last meeting combined to bite back after going three down, as had happened; Aldro had suffered a poor shift on the right, but his class still told in the 29th minute, as he shook off Meyer with a little jiggle before centering it. Ugoccioni met it with great technique, giving Wong no chance.
Aldro wasn't the only one who could do that, however, as
Wong Ping Shun wasted no time in asserting his dominance in adverse conditions. Koji Sato was a formidable winger in his own right, but he had nothing on Wong in a shoulder-to-shoulder clash. Krijn Demedts had to intervene, but to no avail as the unstoppable Number Six simply powered in the free-kick that he won.
With Kang Xi not garnering any serious efforts other than their goal, there were few who expected the second half to make a difference, and indeed it was Grilled who pressed their lead. Tian continued his terrific season with another splendid anticipatory poach in the 65th, as Gustavsen rued the mud beginning to clog up his six-yard box.
It was becoming a routine by this point, and after Mohd Safri deposited a sixth with a neat chip holding off August Bech in the downpour,
Clément Meyer and
Zhu Changchun missed having Grilled match their last haul. Of course, it was still far more than enough, and
Djan Bacelar was only too willing to signal for his men to tone it down and avoid unneeded injuries.
