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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 60 | W | 1 - 0 | League | | Season 60 | W | 3 - 5 | League | | Season 54 | L | 3 - 5 | Tournament (Playoffs) |
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Sizzlin' Still
Points Well Earnt
Blackburn Rovers Fan once again proved that their strength in reserve was not a fluke, as they stretched the Birds fully at Ewood Park. Having won their last three league games despite being embroiled in administration, Rovers worked their way in place to mount a grand escape today, and only a concerted push towards maintaining possession preserved full points for Grilled.
Despite their organizational woes, it was business as usual for Rovers on the pitch, as they drew well over 70000 paying spectators to Ewood for the contest, for what might be the final home match for this squad. Captain Namik Rustempašić kept a stoic face on as he led his teammates out one last time, but there were more than a few who got dust in their eyes as the club anthem was played over the storied City stadium.
Grilled kept the sentimentality in check, though they did defer to Lyulin's request to kick off. For their part,
Rinor Isufi had been returned to the strikeforce, partly due to
Lee Lee Hao having to move back to cover for the injured
Ang Leong Kum, while
Hariharan Prabhu got the nod on the left after
Low Aik Jia decided not to put himself up for selection, due to not being comfortable about his dislocated thighbone just yet.
This would be Prabhu's first league start all season, and his first non-walkover one since the opener against Charis FC last season, and he took it extremely seriously indeed. He would win a corner off István Rajki in a prolonged tussle at the corner flag, and French midfielder
Clément Meyer put his hang time to good use, powering it home after
Wong Ping Shun dropped the ball into the penalty area.
The restless home fans were further riled up as the Birds continued to make inroads, and
Rinor Isufi picked up the second, after slightly indecisive marking from former Russian youth midfielder Vladimir Lyulin. The sometimes-haughty Isufi's showy celebrations definitely did not go over well, and Swiss referee Luis Pürro came close to booking him for provoking the Rovers diehards.
There were few signs of Rovers mustering a response, unexpectedly, with Tudor Floricel for one slipping off the pace.
Tian Yonghang missed a fine opportunity ballooning high, but after
Yuki Irie struck for the third game in a row with decidedly un-fullbacklike acrobatics, it appeared only a question of how badly the hosts would be humiliated, all the more with Schallgruber-Horstmann scrambling to save from
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim and Meyer again, in quick succession.
And then, they were back in it. That last save was admirably taken out of the danger zone by Stathis Rorris, who probably figured that they had little left to lose, and some sharp long passing got it to the breaking Mohsen Amanpour in a matter of seconds. Hari Kumble and Mirko Eugeni were onto it, and despite
Gene Filippone's best efforts, the former would be free to swipe it past
Wong Tian Han to complete the counter.
Winger James Lim would then get Rovers within a single goal, as he stabbed an inch-perfect strike in off the post, after Kumble led Rovers forward on their next charge. Ewood Park was delighted, with
Tian Yonghang positively furious in contrast, as he threw off his normally placid demeanour to chew
Lee Lee Hao out for a perceived weak pass that led to that.
The tables had turned completely as Grilled had to hunker down for the final five minutes of the half as Rovers surged, but they just about got through it. Head coach
Djan Bacelar didn't like what he was seeing, and berated several Grilled players as they filed by him, to the evident enjoyment of the home support.
Rovers' purple patch didn't last, though, and the Birds got matters back under control, once they had calmed down. Putting out a far more deliberate pace, Grilled would seek to lure their opponents out before going in, with
Yuki Irie and
Gene Filippone further sitting back.
The result was that chances were harder to come by, but it was not as if they were nonexistent -
Lee Lee Hao would have made it much easier, had he kept his wits about him in the 54th minute, but he completely failed to react when
Hariharan Prabhu sent a cross flashing across his face. Lee then turned around and made as if he expected it to go to someone else, which drew a shrug from Isufi.
Wong Ping Shun then had his turn with an excellent dead-on dead ball, but German custodian Robert Schallgruber-Horstmann managed to get his fingers onto it. Wong then attempted to argue that the wall had moved, but the referee was never going to buy that.
Rovers began to agitate for an equaliser after weathering all of this, and Chilean forward Aroldo Yáñez shook Grilled with a clever turn that brought
Wong Tian Han into play. Over at the other end,
Tian Yonghang would catch Rustempašić in his shin with an attempted volley shot, necessitating Fernando González Carvajal to replace him.
Lyulin tried to inspire a third, after being handed the armband, but Grilled were doing a good job of keeping the ball away from them, by this point. A couple of tactical substitutions brought
Ling Fuquan and
Zhao Jing Wei on to bolster this line of play, and they helped Grilled to while away the last five minutes without incident.
