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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 60 | W | 3 - 5 | League | | Season 54 | L | 3 - 5 | Tournament (Playoffs) |
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In Black And White
Captain's Prerogative
On a bright yet rain-soaked day at the only home ground he has ever known, 34 year-old Grilled skipper
Tian Yonghang wrote another victorious chapter in the club's books, tinged only by the realisation that it could be one of his last. Fourteen minutes after leading the team out for a landmark 150th time, Tian's left boot rang with the 230th goal of his eighteen-season long career, which would end up capturing both the match and the title for the Birds.
It was, after all, what had to be done.
Anything less to the visiting Blackburn Rovers Fan could well have handed it to Batok Earthquakes instead, and head coach
Djan Bacelar understandably spared no efforts in working his squad up for the event. They had, in a rare development usually reserved for Cup finals and the like, held their final few training sessions behind closed doors, and cooped up together in the clubhouse lodgings the night before.
Rovers were certainly a threat to scupper Grilled's plans outright, having struck four times against each of newbies are newbies and akodo, in their lead-in to the contest. Not only that, they had the advantage of a bye against Charis FC the last weekend, which conveniently cleared Italian striker Mirko Eugeni's suspension. While Nie Tze Chao had moved on, Aroldo Yáñez, who struck a hat-trick against the Birds in their last meeting, remained, and it was anybody's guess as to whether they would be able to handle him this time.
The signs were hardly promising. Bacelar had bravely opted for two attacking wings, with
Low Aik Jia called in on the left, but he would be left with one soon enough. Calculated play by former Russian youth international Vladimir Lyulin blunted Grilled's edge significantly, and the pitch itself conspired against
Wong Ping Shun in the tenth minute, when he slipped and fell on James Lim's studs, resulting in some nasty gashes.
Despite being on closer inspection a wholly accidental turn on events, this did not endear the crowd to the Rovers wide man. Strangely enough, it could be said to have lead directly to Tian's goal, after substitute
Hariharan Prabhu made what was probably his only dribble through the lines, and dealt it short to the oncoming Tian. Finding the barest sliver of space between Mohsen Amanpour and Namik Rustempašić, Tian cut a volley at the far top corner - and, as it has happened so many times before, it went in.
That was just what Grilled needed, if only to relieve the suffocating tension, and they fared much better against Rovers' waiting game after that. With Lyulin and company having to take occasional risks, Grilled managed several strikes on target to keep Robert Schallgruber-Horstmann engaged, and it could have been much more comfortable had
Gene Filippone gone several inches to the side with his sidefooted 31st minute try.
As it was, Rovers survived and kept it close, and the Birds honest. A jittery half-time came and went after Yáñez flirted with an injury-time equaliser, though it was made easier to bear by news from Camp Nou Singapore that Georg Weidl had put FC Barca Singapore back on even footing with the Earthquakes, after Dietmar Dunkel all but confirmed the Golden Boot with his twelfth of the campaign.
Given what was at stake, it was not hard to imagine what
Low Aik Jia was thinking when he all but threw himself into the backtracking Stathis Rorris after finding himself sandwiched, which certainly didn't amuse the capped Greek midfielder. Referee Juan Antonio Torrellas did manage a knowing smile, but booked the protesting winger nevertheless.
Most of the fans appeared appreciative, though, as Low continued covering ground at a prodigious rate, if he was hardly unique in that. Tian himself had been putting out workrate comparable to that of a far younger version of himself, and this came to a head after a very draining hour. Turning in tandem with Rustempašić, Tian left his own ankle behind, and tellingly tried crawling after his opponent for abit before doing the wise thing.
The standing ovation he received as he exited for fellow veteran
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim was undoubtedly amoung the loudest ever heard at The Cooking Pot, and the moment where he put his armband on his old friend was definitely one for the cameras.
Clément Meyer could have amped the narrative further after Mohd Safri's first touch teed him up, but Schallgruber-Horstmann's quick hands pushed his snap-shot up and onto the crossbar.
The Frenchman would make the remainder of the game his own, as he took the initiative against a Rovers side apparently caught in two minds as to whether to go for it. Likely forcing their midfield ten yards back all by himself, Meyer should have wrapped it all up on at least two occasions, but Schallgruber-Horstmann's fine reading kept Rovers engaged.
Grilled could live with that as long as the visitors gave up their designs on
Wong Tian Han's clean sheet, and
Clark Won did his part to snuff out danger as early as possible, by pulling Eugeni back in the centre circle. The crowd were only too supportive of his "better safe than sorry" attitude, and although Meyer missed wide with three minutes to go, this was a day when the points alone meant everything.
