No Love Lost
Safri Reaches Ten
Pasir Ris Division Three side The Match Losers never came close to repeating their celebrated knockout of the Birds three seasons back today, as they submitted by a clear four goals in this rematch. Grilled's forwards made well sure of that as they scored in turn in a slow-boiling first half, but it could have been far more had it not been for Alexandru Pănescu's heroics.
Pănescu, The Match Losers' longtime Romanian goalie, ousted now-reserve Vainutis Jafetas not long after their first two Cup meetings against Grilled ended in defeat. Their fans had pinned their hopes on German bomber Gerhard vom Berg, who had scored the last time the teams met, but he tragically twisted his ankle in the league; Danish veteran centreback Gregers Boesen, who scored twice that day and has since taken over as player-coach, was not expected by even the most optimistic diehard to be able to do a repeat.
Indeed, it was all Boesen could do to shackle the Birds' out-and-out striker
Rinor Isufi, who relished in his free role. He could hardly be faulted for being given the slip after
Low Aik Jia had raced down the left, and longtime helper Jakub Prílesan made up for it by taking almost all of the sting out of Isufi's blast, leaving Pănescu to gather the ball handily.
Their fans had harboured ambitions after their team managed to stifle Grilled's attacks rather impressively for half an hour, but a wrench would then be thrown in any smash-and-grab plans by Singapore international
Tian Yonghang. The Grilled captain had been only too unselfish, but knew exactly what he had to do when
Wong Ping Shun's cross was headed out to him by Boesen. Hit square on the half-volley, Tian's effort had Pănescu lean back desperately, only to claw it into his own net.
This was followed by a truly bizarre finish, coming after the very active Low had picked his marker off, before slinging one onto the crossbar. To many, it looked as if it had gone out, and The Match Losers' defence was walking away in anticipation of a goal-kick, when the ball spun back into play. Isufi was only too happy to stick it in, and the goal would stand, despite fervent protests.
There was no doubt at all about the next one, a vintage
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim diving header off Low's wicked skipping drive. There was little that Pănescu could reasonably have done about that either, or even
Wong Ping Shun's top-class free-kick a bit later. He somehow got a hand to the latter, though few would have thought that it would make any real difference.
Wong did get it right on his second try, earned by Mohd Safri, which he exploded through the defensive wall. It was only a question of how many Grilled would score after that, and Mohd Safri for one was definitely eager to get one hand on the Cup's top scorer award. A fierce right-footer was barely scrambled aside by Pănescu, and
Lee Lee Hao slid in on the open goal eagerly, only to ram it off the foot of the post.
The Match Losers should probably have at least claimed a consolation, with Polish forward Roman Barszczewski very slippery on the rare occasions that he actually had possession; in fact, Grilled had not recorded a clean sheet in their Sapphire Challenger Cup run up till now. Sadly, Sylvain Godard was slow to pull the trigger.
It was then lifted all the way down the other end, where Isufi's mobility saw him overlap
Low Aik Jia. The long-suffering Pănescu would again ride to his side's rescue, and after eating Isufi's first attempt full on his jaw, he recovered quickly to throw himself across his exposed bottom corner, causing Isufi to pull what should have been an easy finish marginally wide.
Pănescu was at it again in the 61st minute, as he once again backtracked magnificently to tip Wong's dipping free-kick over; the Grilled winger managed to see the funny side despite what could have been a hat-trick being reduced to a single goal, given that the Birds were comfortably in the lead, and was caught on camera bowing respectfully in the direction of his gloved nemesis.
The Match Losers' skipper Marek Mystek tried to rally his troops to one last fruitful sally as Grilled let their guard down, but there would be no reward forthcoming as Barszczewski headed their best half-chance over in injury time.
