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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 57 | W | 6 - 3 | Cup | | Season 57 | L | 5 - 4 | League | | Season 53 | L | 0 - 5 | Tournament (Group Phase) | | Season 38 | L | 2 - 4 | Qualification | | Season 37 | W | 5 - 4 | League |
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Afterburn
Whole Lee Trinity
The Birds snapped out of their funk while making a strong statement indeed, as they destroyed Isle of Flames 6-2 before 62000 screaming fans at The Cooking Pot. The visitors were not in tip-top condition, with successive 1-4 losses to singnet_utd and Be Champions FC before their win against QUT FC last week, but their reputation was still such that this was savoured exquisitely by Grilled supporters.
Pre-game discussions in the media had without exception centered on how this meeting might diverge from the Emerald Cup final, given Flames' foregoing of friendly games in the build-up, as well as Grilled's slump. In the end though, both sets of coaching staff hadn't changed their minds about the best approach, bar Nic Schafrath making way for the more experienced Quentin Debert in Flames' midfield.
Grilled were again plagued by a slow start, and Flames gladly took the game to them. Avri Dotan, who had been the visitors' main threat in the final, continued belying his nearly 35 years of age, as he matched
Low Aik Jia stride for stride in their exchanges. Nor has his precision from the dead ball lessened, as evidenced from his eleventh-minute corner dropped right on the head of Per-Erik Strandheim for the go-ahead goal.
It was a big wake-up call for the hosts, who had been sleepwalking their way through the first ten minutes, and they responded with reassuring bite. Low rose to the challenge as his youth allowed him to gradually get the better of Dotan, but his attempted reply flew well over. Low's 24th minute assist to
Tian Yonghang seemed assured, but his captain would up stabbing it too far left.
Things were not getting any better, and Flames were several times on the verge of extending their lead, when
Lee Lee Hao made his presence known again. Having struck twice against Flames from defence in his last appearance against them, the makeshift centreback wasn't shy about going for it, and his carefree blast bent just out of Jan Alarcó's grasp in the 35th minute.
Taken aback by the unexpected equaliser, Flames were caught on the back foot, and Bronisław Zolich put
Zhao Jing Wei out of the game with a scrappy tackle under pressure, two minutes later. The stoppage did them no favours, though, as Lee snuck through on the left to put Grilled ahead from Tian's restart, before himself getting booked for grappling with Richard Stetson.
The see-sawing continued as Flames again got off the blocks first, with who else but Dotan in the thick of things; a moment's lapse from Low was enough for the Israeli to get behind both him and
Gene Filippone, and former Austrian youth international Ervin Lakatos called for it, and got it, putting it past
Wong Tian Han.
Low's comeback was far less effective this time, and he wound up merely disqualifying himself from the last league game, with a frankly laughable attempt at winning a penalty call. Instead, Lee firmly established himself as Grilled's saviour, with a blind diagonal forty-yard pass to the feet of
Tian Yonghang, who was equal to it with a brilliant take on the half-volley.
Grilled were back in the lead and really turning the screws, with the esteemed visitors looking close to spent. By the 78th minute, they would be safely three to the good, as
Chow Ying Lee and then
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim took full advantage of tired legs to penetrate the Flames backline.
Isle of Flames made one last charge in the 82nd minute, but their clever free-kick plan was read by Filippone, and
Low Aik Jia sprinted all the way on the ensuing counter before centering it, for Mohd Safri to reach double figures on his first season in the S-League.
