Penguins Melted
Enter The Eagle
The Cooking Pot enjoyed one of the most improbable Birds victory of its long history, as Grilled somehow demolished Pudgy Penguins by six to nothing this cloudy Sunday. A win was not out of the question at all, given the hosts' sustained urgency and willingness to get stuck in, but they were thoroughly flattered by the final margin - not that they were complaining.
Truth be told, Grilled were not even favourites despite being at home, with most bookmakers having the fixture at evens or leaning towards Penguins; and with good justification, given that Pudgy Penguins had completely schooled the Birds at The Igloo Dome last week. Understandably, they preserved the system that had served them so well then, with Karl Tolstrup's only adjustment being to introduce Kenyan international Ollie Maynard on the right wing.
With the Birds also sticking to their tack of a single dominant flank, there seemed little reason why Penguins should not romp to a repeat - but they had not counted on the unpredictability inherent to Grilled's game. Grilled did hold their own in the middle today, and would go ahead in the 12th minute as
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim benefitted from a corner kick to the near post.
This was definitely far from a sign of superiority, given that the corner had been won from a breakaway in the first place, but what was true was that
Rinor Isufi had injected something special into the Birds' front line. One could hardly blame the Penguins from not quite knowing what to do with the young Albanian, given that this was his first league start of the season, and his unusual movement patterns gave the Penguins defenders fits.
And so it came in the 23rd minute, that Isufi found himself in the classic target man position with
Tian Yonghang on the ball... only to suddenly drop his head and dash to the outside. The severely confused Penguins backline appeared stunned for a second, before sending Jian Xiaonan after him, which however opened an inviting gap for
Woon Shun An to plow his way in for the second goal instead.
The home fans were in paradise, but that was only the beginning. A third would come in short order, and one could hardly point any fingers for this one, as Frenchman
Clément Meyer simply had all the stars in alignment when he launched his blindly-hit volley. Iraqi national Number One Darawan Balikân could be applauded for even getting his fingertips to this one, but there was too much brute force behind the strike for it to be kept out.
The riot of noise that was the main stand was mirrored by the deathly silence that hung over the visiting section, whose inhabitants contemplated the cruelty of fickle fate. Almost as if to rub it in, the under-the-weather
Zhao Jing Wei then recovered his mojo out of nowhere, and ran in to put yet another one past Balikân, with the clock showing just twenty-eight minutes. Grilled had paid Penguins back in full, and it had taken barely half an hour.
This finally woke the visitors up from their sleepwalking state, and Tunç Aykal swiftly warned Grilled that they might yet regret any letup, with a meaningful grounder shaving the outside of
Wong Tian Han's left post. Unfortunately, although they pulled together tightly enough, Penguins' killer instinct was noticeably absent, and the Birds rode the first half out mostly uneventfully.
Tolstrup had evidently decided that he had bigger fish to fry, as Penguins emerged from the half-time break even more defensive than before. This was, definitely, a sensible decision given their upcoming Singapore Cup final, especially as there was absolutely no guarantee that a four-goal advantage could be overturned, whatever the strategy used.
The Grilled players of course sensed it, and they were not about to pass this once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity up. Encouraged by the bulk of the spectators, they pressed the Penguins back with an almost savage resolve. Penguins impressively managed to keep a cool head about them, and handled what could have easily been a problematic mobbing attempt from an indirect free-kick very professionally.
That would not be sufficient the next time round, with only the woodwork preventing Mohd Safri from getting his second in the 74th minute. As it was, this merely delayed the inevitable, as
Rinor Isufi recovered the ball, gave several defenders the runaround in skipping his way out of the penalty area, before giving it to captain
Tian Yonghang for him to apply the finish.
Isufi had done everything but score by this time, and the gods of football could hardly deny him his due when
Lee Lee Hao dribbled by a disspirited George Negoiţă in the 80th minute. Balikân positioned himself for the shot, but Grilled were blessed with perfect decision-making on the day, and Lee unselfishly backheeled it to Isufi, who bent it beautifully around the Iraqi goalie.
There was little that the Penguins fans could say to this, and a small group of them were seen ironically mimicking the Spanish practice of waving their hankies. The Birds for their part basked in the indulgence of their delirious supporters, who were only too happy to preface each of their passes with a hearty cheer; the applause that Xiaonan and company received when they came off, was probably amongst the hardest to bear of their careers.
