Jaguars Bombed
Platinum Safri
Division Four frontrunners Golden Jaguars pounced swiftly at Ghost Stadium before over fifty thousand expectant fans, but their valiant resistance would be snuffed out by a dominating surge by the Birds in the last half an hour.
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim's renaissance continued as he hit his fifteenth career hat-trick to bely his 36 years of age, while
Moey Xin Seng continued to live up to his promise with his second goal in as many Cup outings.
The Jaguars, who had been in II.1 as recently as four seasons back, had begun their season with four straight whitewashes, and they had taken out shoot'n'save and LA XI with ease in the previous rounds. This was not in itself overly concerning, but with Turkish captain-coach Ömer Faruk Ermiş providing sage judgment up front, they have become a considerable threat over open ground.
Grilled for their part stuck with
Lee Lee Hao as their third forward, but drafted
Clément Meyer as a centreback instead of
Yuki Irie.
Low Aik Jia returned to the left, but was oddly lethargic in the early minutes, and was harried every step of the way by the Jaguars' vibrant Italian rookie Ernesto Driutti.
Ermiş certainly was not going for the nil-all, as the home team played it upfield at each opportunity, and this refreshing directness presented the Birds with some interesting problems. Long derided as an outmoded tactic, the constant rain of high balls instead proved beneficial for the Jaguars, who were well stocked in the height department.
Neeraj Muthyala was the only on on the Grilled team who held his own here, as the hosts steered the game towards their strengths.
It soon reaped dividends, as journeyman striker Ernesto Alesi climbed over
Hariharan Prabhu to knock one down for Gert Sophien in the eighth minute. Sophien was on the same wavelength, and brought it neatly down on his chest, before any of the Grilled players surrounding him could react.
Gene Filippone tried to get himself in the way, but Sophien followed up with a fine chip, that not even
Wong Tian Han could deny.
Moey Xin Seng, who felt that he had been unfairly held off by the face as Sophien wound up, badgered the referee constantly about it, and was rewarded with a yellow card. This only served to fire the ambitious youngster up, though, and the Jaguars couldn't quite keep tabs on him for a time. Moey would be vindicated when he was first to the rebound from
Rinor Isufi's stunner after sixteen minutes, and shuffled it in smoothly before Carmelo Emerick could turn around.
Tempers were beginning to flare as the Jaguars continued with their combative style, only to be met by Grilled wilfully slowing the pace down with deliberate square passing. Sophien for one could not contain his impatience, and got into the book too for contesting Meyer's free-kick.
Lee Lee Hao won Grilled's first corner in the 24th minute off Ján Bula, and rather ironically, the Jaguars would go down through a header, of all things. Of course, it was
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim, after all. They were level again in a blink, however, as Omani fullback Abdulaziz Yasser Al-Ya'qooby's probing effort took a wickedly huge deflection off Muthyala's leg. Wong had no chance.
The Jaguars support were by far the more animated at half-time, however, and from Ermiş' body language, they remained fairly optimistic about pulling it off. Mohd Safri would give them something to chew on right after the restart, though, as he combined masterfully with
Low Aik Jia to put himself in a shooting position down the left. Emerick managed to push the shot slightly off, but it nevertheless trickled in at the far post as Grilled took a 3-2 lead.
Golden Jaguars were not beaten yet, and doubled down on the aerial bombardment. Their intense focus again paid off, as the Birds were completely unprepared when Fane Moldovan actually ran with the ball in the 51st minute.
Low Aik Jia would eventually get a hold of his jersey, but not before Moldovan had already beaten Wong. That would also be the third and last card of the match, for Low.
Back at square one, most observers would have expected the hosts to carry on and seize the day. This was, however, about when the Jaguars were found out, as the Birds began turning the screws by passing with increasing assurance. The hosts went from mustering in Grilled's area, to being slowly pinned back, and
Tian Yonghang would drive a stake in with his neat dipping header for 4-3.
The Jaguars had nothing left this time, and it became just a question of how many Grilled could rack up before the final whistle. In the end, they held off after Low and Mohd Safri had put the outcome beyond doubt, and the last fifteen minutes went by at barely above walking pace.
