akodo 5 - 6 Grilled Birds
Undone Despite
Kazuto Denied
akodo would not be the winner at Sanzo Arena today although they had struck five times against the Birds, who hit back with only greater vigour in an instant classic. If the twelve-time Third Division champions do not survive II.1, they will at least have seared an unforgettable thriller into the consciousness of their supporters - and of Grilled's.
The story of the build-up was, of course, centered around comeback kid Kazuto Hoshi, whose hat-trick in his debut against Blackburn Rovers Fan captured the imagination. All in all, akodo were definitely improved from the side that went down tamely at The Cooking Pot earlier in the season, and with credible draws against Rovers and newbies are newbies behind them, pundits had them worrying Grilled's increasingly-rickety defence.
They hardly had to wait. With veterans Cheong An Puay and Chai Chin Li moved on since that loss, national playmaker Kelvin Hu had reinvented himself as a deep-lying provider, exactly in tune with what Kazuto needed. The former Chicken Wings trainee needed just fourteen minutes to open up against
Ling Fuquan, who simply could not keep pace as the new akodo Number Six blew past.
It was evident that Kazuto was fast becoming the home fans' favourite, but akodo had much more in store. Like Kazuto a speed-based striker, Vaidyanathan Banda crashed through a woefully static Birds backline straight from the restart, to the undisguised fury of
Wong Tian Han, who saw his goal breached once again.
The best thing that could be said for Grilled was that it remained an open game, with akodo eager to continue cashing in, and
Clément Meyer was able to pull one back after some great timing by
Ang Leong Kum.
Gene Filippone then bagged a magnificent thirty-yarder after catching Quek Kiong Rong slightly out of position, but Banda would soon put akodo back in front, as he responded first to a Kazuto grounder that had found the post.
The pace with breathless with all involved having seemingly given up on defence, which the fervent crowd could well get behind.
Wong Ping Shun would hurdle Andrew Chang to bang a resounding equaliser in after 36 minutes, but with Ng Kwang Min and Muthunarayanan Singeetham answering in moments to make it 5-3, akodo looked to have carried the day.
Djan Bacelar, who had been animated if peripheral on the sidelines, had much to say to his players, with
Ling Fuquan and
Gene Filippone getting an earful even before they had left the pitch. Though Grilled had maintained a good 57% of the possession, three clear goals was definitely not going to be easy with the hosts all fired up, and it was going to take something very special to keep the title race alive. And, as it turned out, the Birds would pull that off.
Low Aik Jia and
Yuki Irie's joint approach to Bacelar looked to have been rejected as the second half began with unchanged sides, but Grilled's deliberate control of the tempo made all the difference. akodo were ill-prepared for this complete turnaround in style, and Low Qiang Fu bit the bait in trying to go in on
Lee Lee Hao in the 52nd. This led to a frantic three-on-three raid on the akodo penalty area, which concluded with
Clark Won claiming the final assist and slipping it past Quek.
A third leveller would arrive in the very next minute, as akodo struggled to come to terms with the new normal. A all too conventional attack was cut out in its infancy by
Ling Fuquan's confident interception, and
Wong Ping Shun exploited the space behind the advanced Singeetham to dig a fine cross towards the akodo goalmouth. There were no shortage of takers from both teams, with
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim apparently held down by Mohammad Musa, but
Clément Meyer polished the header off anyway.
The spectators could barely stay seated at this turn of events, and with the stakes running high, it was a question of who would rise to the occasion.
Tian Yonghang put in his bid with some well thought out incursions, while Kazuto Hoshi sought to burnish his already sky-high reputation with several fierce outside efforts, that
Wong Tian Han was however equal to.
In the end, it would be
Lee Lee Hao who would do the honours. Following a heart-stopping rocket from Ng Kwang Min, Grilled worked it patiently through the middle, and after an almost hypnotic array of sideway passes, Lee plastered the winner home completely without warning, with a mighty swipe of his right boot.
