Put On Ice
Beaten On The Backfoot
Grilled were again well beaten by Pudgy Penguins, who did however lay off on the 7-1 mauling from the first half of the season, to close out with a 3-0 from their counterattacks. It was all over by the 34th minute as the snowbound version of the Birds shut up shop afterwards, but it could yet be a hollow victory given the distance they have got to make up in the context of the league championship.
The hosts entered the match on the back of some uncertainty, with regular free-kick taker
Wong Ping Shun a conspicious absence on the right wing, after his injury against the Jokers last Sunday.
Clément Meyer, who impressed midweek, was handed his spot, but never quite found his bearings out wide.
Low Aik Jia cut a gloomy figure on the bench, as he was again overlooked for
Ang Leong Kum; additionally,
Gene Filippone, who had been reported to have been poor during traning, was dropped in favour of
Clark Won, while
Rinor Isufi got another start, this time for
Chow Ying Lee. Ultimately, though, none of these changes made their mark at The Cooking Pot.
The visitors were again headed by Tunç Aykal, who celebrated his thirtieth birthday, and directed by Jian Xiaonan in midfield. Defensively, they strung five across the back, which proved more than enough to stymie Isufi for the full, and quite depressing, ninety minutes that would follow.
The sixth minute alone would be a microcosm of what was to be - Meyer was still finding his feet when the much more suited Kenyan international Ollie Maynard beat his fair and square down the sidelines, and Bledar Maliqi slid in the cross without a second thought. The Birds could have bitten back immediately, but
Lee Lee Hao's wonderpass was badly misread by
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim. It would have been hard to believe that the Mohd Safri of five seasons past would have done it, and the self-disgust on his face was painful to countenance.
That was by some margin Grilled's top opportunity of the half, which continued in the same vein - long stretches of pointless possession by the Birds, punctuated by an invariably naïve attack, that more often than not was returned with much more potent intent. This was exactly what happened in the 29th minute, when a doomed attempt to run straight through from
Rinor Isufi was paid back with another blitz from Maynard, and a similarly neat finish from French winger Mounir Jemâa.
It was, actually, so simple that some might reasonably have wondered why Grilled were not prepared against it, but it remained that they faced a bad dilemma - they had to press the initiative, being already behind, but this would unavoidably leave holes that Penguins' rather speedier personnel could in turn race into.
Barely five minutes later, Grilled were caught for a third time as Mounir Jemâa turned assistant, though
Ang Leong Kum did at least make a respectable effort to stay with his man. A more canny defender than
Clark Won might have cut this one out, but as it happened, his half-clearance went right into the chest of Paschalis Ptolemeos, who thus continued his run, got a fortunate bounce, and scrambled it under the swooping
Wong Tian Han.
This was enough for Penguins' Danish head coach Karl Tolstrup, who motioned for his team to conserve energy and prioritize defending their lead. This was bad news for Grilled, who had been struggling for openings even when their visitors were still looking to get forward, but oddly
Woon Shun An managed to latch onto a precious half-chance shortly after that. Giorgio Polani was in the way, however, and corralled him down a blind alley.
An air of despondency descended over The Cooking Pot, already shrouded in the ongoing haze, as the home support silently acknowledged that they were not going to be able to bluster out of this one. A younger Birds team, with the likes of Mohd Safri and
Tian Yonghang at the peak of their powers, might just have been able to conjure something, but looking at how the aging hometown favourites laboured to trudge off the field, it wasn't going to be.
There would be few surprises in the second half, with Grilled striving to ask questions of Penguins' backline, which the latter answered with almost apologetic ease. Without
Wong Ping Shun, and with no sign of Low coming on, the burden of unlocking the defence fell squarely on Isufi. Unfortunately, for all his considerable skills, leading the line against five defenders of such quality remained quite beyond him.
His best contribution arrived in the 66th minute, when he finally got Giorgio Polani on the wrong foot, but the experienced Italian defender promptly ate the yellow card and brought him down. With Wong not available,
Rinor Isufi claimed the free-kick for himself, and went on to crack it ineffectively wide. Iraqi goalkeeper Darawan Balikân allowed himself a broad smile as he walked to retrieve the ball, this being about the limit of his exertions for the day.
Balikân's exercise regime would get slightly more interesting, as Grilled strove diligently for at least a consolation goal. Sadly, while this did force the goalkeeper into several saves, mostly from a slippery
Tian Yonghang, none of them were particularly troubling. Still, the Birds could have gotten their reducer in the 79th minute, when Tian put
Ang Leong Kum through with Isufi selling a dummy run, but Ang pulled his strike embarassingly high.
It was Penguins who nearly extended their lead instead, after Mohd Safri's forced shot was brought under control and cannoned downfield by Bledar Maliqi. However,
Ling Fuquan was on it this time, and Miro Totev's eventual grounder was easy for
Wong Tian Han. Totev didn't look overly concerned, though, with the points long since guaranteed.
