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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 57 | W | 4 - 1 | League | | Season 56 | L | 2 - 3 | Tournament (Group Phase) | | Season 53 | L | 1 - 4 | Friendly | | Season 53 | W | 4 - 1 | Friendly |
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More Downtime
Fang Slices Up
Grilled were left hanging precariously in fifth spot after failing to overcome singnet_utd away, but they could hardly have expected better from yet another lacklustre day on the field.
With leading scorer
Chow Ying Lee out through his own indiscipline, the stage was set for
Rinor Isufi to get his official debut. singnet_utd, who had been on a five match winning run in the league before falling to Pudgy Penguins last week, had their defence in tip-top condition, however; with Italian custodian Nicola Pillitu guarding their net, it looked bleak for the Birds' forwards, if recent evidence was anything to go by.
And so it was, with their few early attempts to get forward falling apart of their own accord. The hosts knew exactly what they wanted, and funnelled their efforts into clogging up the centre of the field.
singnet_utd's readiness extended to when they obtained the ball, and their former national team midfielders would put them in front shortly. First up was Ling Zhicheng, who tussled with
Lee Lee Hao, and won out thanks to a teeny nudge at just the right instant. Before Lee could protest, Ling had lifted it in a neat arc inside the far post.
Zhao Jing Wei tried to keep his colleagues together, but singnet_utd were just too good at attacking Grilled's weaknesses. The next time, it was
Low Aik Jia who dived in impatiently at Eduard Wendt's feet, only for the Swiss to sidestep the telegraphed tackle embarassingly easily.
Low should really have known better, given how this was one of his own favoured moves. In any case, it meant that Wendt had free reign over the right side, and although
Woon Shun An got over just as Wendt entered the penalty area, he could not prevent the short cutback to Fang Kunxian, who thumped it between
Wong Tian Han's legs with his instep.
There was no joy at the other end even when Grilled returned to their best for a moment.
Zhu Changchun brought the ball forward by himself in the 31st minute, pulling Ömer Öykü to himself and opening room for
Tian Yonghang. The Grilled captain could not have done much better with his stiff first-time volley, but Pillitu would deny him with an even more spectacular flying save.
The hosts then sat back a bit, with Pietro Gilardone for one not at all happy about their conservative outlook. It became a bit of a stalemate as Tellis Rouvas shackled the dynamic but off-wavelength
Rinor Isufi too, and with
Woon Shun An noticeably slowing down in the hot weather, there were few attempts of note either side of half-time.
Excitement returned to the stadium in the 65th minute, when Tian cut by Ling, and then two singnet_utd defenders, in what could only be described as an extremely economical run. Still, it would not get by the final obstacle, and Pillitu once more got the tip of his gloves to Tian's otherwise-impeccable strike.
It was looking pretty hopeless for the Grilled supporters who had bought tickets for the derby, and the away stands were fairly listless as Zhao brought the ball up four minutes later, having seen too many similar tries fail miserably. This time, however,
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim would surge forward as Isufi came back at speed, and this would finally break the hold that Öykü had held over Grilled's forward line.
Now clear of all comers, Mohd Safri didn't break too much of a sweat baiting Pillitu out and putting it in, but Grilled would not be able to replicate this outcome in the twenty minutes left to them.
