Ensnared Roundly
Fang In Form
The Birds got a sneak preview of just how tough the S-League would be, as they began their Singapore Masters quest with a 2-3 defeat against singnet_utd. The Jurong clubs engaged in a see-sawing kickabout that saw Grilled momentarily on top at the end of the first half, but a failure to put their foot down allowed national midfielder Fang Kunxian to win it for his team.
Having been out of it for a full generation, Grilled were not about to pass up on this rare chance to check how they stand, and paraded their likely first-choice eleven. It was harder to say if this applied to singnet_utd too, who boast one of the deepest squads on the local scene, but it was certainly not lacking in any department.
The same could not be said of the Birds, whose glaring deficiencies at the back have been set aside despite promotion. This is an old story, though, and Grilled went about covering for it in their accustomed way, by keeping the other team busy in their own half.
Or at least, so the theory goes; singnet_utd were too good to be kept under wraps for long, and their Italian captain Luigi Antonio Restelli slipped between
Wong Ping Shun and
Woon Shun An before racing nearly all the way in the 20th minute. His teammates responded as one, and with all the players they brought to bear, it was not surprising that one of them - Fang - would be in the right place to score.
This wasn't too discouraging as yet for Grilled, who had given enough peeks at their potential to keep their fans in the stadium content, and there was a hush of anticipation on the half-hour as the persistent pressure finally yielded a clear line of sight to
Tian Yonghang - but not for too long, as Turkish ironman Ömer Öykü filled the gap with his imposing frame.
It was only the latest of the physical Öykü's exploits against the Grilled forwards, and his craft was such that he had the better of them whatever they tried, which so riled
Chow Ying Lee that he launched himself into a bookable rash challenge. Chow would finally get his own back with three minutes to go in the half, as
Zhao Jing Wei's timing on his pass left even the near-watertight singnet_utd defence wide open.
One good thing followed another, and Zhao himself captured the stadium's full attention with his killer instinct on the restart. Transfer-listed French forward Cyprien Delmont went for the fancy trying to get his team going, but had it stolen by
Zhu Changchun. There were concerns whether Zhao could bring the lob to him under control with Pascal Durlinger breathing down his neck, only for Zhao to shatter all expectations with an almost dainty pirouette into an unstoppable volley, past the stunned Nicola Pillitu.
It was an incredible end to a quality half, and judging from the cheering from the Grilled end, their supporters were very much looking forward to the beginning of the S-League season.
singnet_utd were still the club who had absolutely destroyed Arrogancae in their qualifier barely a week ago, however, and they retained much up their sleeves. While some analysts have criticized them for not performing to their full potential, their impressive retention to begin the second half was a clear signal that they are there among the best in Singapore, when they were of a mind to.
Their equaliser duly arrived, if without too much fanfare, as another bread-and-butter dash down the line by Restelli resulted in a wonderfully standard cross, that Greek rightback Asimakis Tsigas attacked and converted in a perfectly textbook manner.
Wong Tian Han berated
Gene Filippone for allowing Tsigas so much room, probably with some merit.
Wong would have more cause to be upset, as his back two went to sleep as the Birds kicked off. singnet_utd almost paid Grilled back for their first-half double blow as Frédéric Piaud chased
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim's long pass back, even as neither Ling nor Filippone seemed to want anything to do with it. In the end, Ling barely scrambled it behind for a quite unwarranted corner, as the singnet_utd fans pounced on their indecisiveness cheerfully.
It remained all up for grabs, and there was little hint as to who would snatch it, as singnet_utd fended off Grilled's increasingly-hurried assaults without creating too much of their own. For a moment in the 63rd minute, it looked like it would be the Birds, but
Chow Ying Lee's targeting was off after he had been put through by Tian.
Fang then came in to take all the points for singnet, as he met Piaud's delightfully-angled square ball in the 76th minute with enough force to rock the goalframe.
