Kingsmen Come Through
Chaves Cheer
Grilled head coach
Djan Bacelar was forced to eat his words regarding the Sapphire Challenger Cup extraordinarily early, as his handpicked charges were dumped in the first round by a fast-improving All The King Men side. ATKM had famously whitewashed a weakened Birds side 7-0 some seasons back, but Grilled held little back this time, yet were still unable to overcome.
Grilled had, of course, punished ATKM 9-1 after that, but it would turn out to be a very different story on the day. Half of that ATKM team would take to the field again, after they had been eliminated from the main cup by Pudgy Penguins last week.
There was little indication, though, that it would be anything but business as usual for the Birds in the early reckoning. In the eighth minute,
Tian Yonghang was able to double up on former ArseVikings trainee Yap Beng Ping, and this led to a comparatively easy finish to open up.
Ten minutes on, there could be little debate about Durim Vorpsi's clearly unintentional but extremely certain handball in the box, after he turned his back on
Wong Ping Shun's cross. Wong would calmly hammer it over Dutch goalie Jan-Pieter van der Werff from the spot, and Grilled's advancement was beginning to seem a formality.
As has been happening distressingly often, however, this was a sign of it all falling apart. ATKM, with little left to lose, went full tilt, and began making plenty of inroads. There was not much to be done when Nicola Gabbi's disguised free-kick made its way to Ibrahim Abdul Samad, who fluidly peeled away from
Zhao Jing Wei concurrently, before arcing it over and outside
Wong Tian Han.
The home fans in the Kingsmen Stadium rose as one to that, and they had barely retaken their seats when Gabbi levelled it off. An abortive one-two by
Hariharan Prabhu had left Yuichiro Aratake clear down the right, and a very early cross found Gabbi stretching for it - and just about guiding it in with his head.
That wiped
Djan Bacelar's faint smile right off his face, and he leapt into action with orders to regroup. Grilled hunkered down admirably against ATKM's renewed entreaties, but they evidently forgot to resume their offence when they had the chance to.
The hosts restarted the more eager side, but Grilled were beginning to get back into it, with
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim just missing the connection on
Lee Lee Hao's sudden cutback. The game had to be stopped after Ibrahim Abdul Samad crashed headlong into
Ling Fuquan, though, and neither Ling nor the Birds were the same after that.
Ling, who had returned not long ago from his injury suffered against singnet_utd, wound up having to take himself off, and
Rashid bin Ahmad was far less attuned to getting the ball forward.
Zhao Jing Wei, sensing Grilled's torpor, tried to wake them up by pouring on the physicality, but only succeeded in getting booked in the 64th minute after repeated warnings.
Still, it was tough to guess which way the coin would fall, given that the participants were only getting more cautious, as time ticked down. The stalemate would be shattered in dramatic fashion in the 75th minute, when Portuguese fullback Vítor Chaves outflanked
Rashid bin Ahmad, then breezed across
Gene Filippone, before dragging a solid low drive back into the right corner of goal.
This run was completely out of character for Chaves, who had been better known for his aerial support, and made it all the more satisfying for the ATKM fans. It only got better, as Arijit Saraf tried a vanilla lob over the top immediately afterwards.
Wong Ping Shun was slightly off the mark, and this allowed the fearless Chaves to send it in off the back of his neck.
Bacelar was looking defeated, having spent the entirety of the second half on the sidelines to no effect. He perked up slightly as
Rinor Isufi weaved inside and reduced to 4-3 after taking
Lee Lee Hao's inside pass beautifully, and began issuing urgent orders to his midfield again.
This would unfortunately just fall short, as Grilled battered on ATKM's gates for the remainder of regular time. They managed a number of close shaves, but nothing that challenged van der Werff too much, and the Kingsmen stadium would witness another celebrated victory against the Birds.
