Expats Sent Packing
Neeraj Comes Of Age
Luis Alcántara might have been assigned a relatively bare-bones selection to pick from for this fourth round Cup fixture against III.4 mainstays HSV - Expats, but 19 year-old
Neeraj Muthyala stood up to be counted, and made Grilled's milestone 300th cup game the stage for his maiden professional hat-trick.
Having started just three competitive games since his return from KS.Bratos, Muthyala had not exactly traced the trajectory that he had envisioned for his budding career - his development, while steady, had been less than eye-catching, and some observers had already begun to debate his viability as a trainee, once Grilled's promising youth members start filtering into the main squad.
After
Zhao Jing Wei's unsuccessful stint as third forward against Dalmacija u srcu, it was
Leong Wan Kang's turn to be slotted in, with
Rinor Isufi again relegated to right wing. Facing them was an Expats side brandishing their usual wide 4-3-3, with homegrown hero Koh Ah Shi going into this having played better than he ever had. They did appear a tad thin in the middle, with 35 year-old Pole Teodor Tuleja expected to do the bulk of the linking-up between defence and attack.
The Expats fans however could hardly have asked for a more inviting start. Grilled's young midfield being a possible liability had been known by their previous Cup opponents, and Expats were no exception, moving them all over with expansive passes. Ten minutes of this later, Koh tied up
Rashid bin Ahmad with an aggressive dash straight inside, before leaving it for Italian defender Serafino Accietto to crack the opener past
Wong Tian Han.
The Birds were still struggling to adjust, when Ernest Ślęk upped it to two, again as part of a second wave supporting their main strikeforce.
Moey Xin Seng, who had worked so hard in tracking back, looked nearly despondent as the Expats players celebrated with great gusto, even as Wong tore into an indignant-looking
Gene Filippone for not getting in the way.
It could have become ugly, but fortunately for Grilled,
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim orchestrated their comeback, sweeping an Isufi cross fuss-free in, on their next attack. Grilled would begin to get bounces going their way, and they were back level four minutes later, as Muthyala worked his way in front of Markus Balauerföhr to knock a corner in, this also by the foot of Isufi.
The game, already impressively open, entered overdrive at this point; Serafino Accietto somehow gritted his teeth and continued after overstretching painfully as Grilled trundled on, which contributed to
Leong Wan Kang outpacing him to put the Birds in the lead for the first time, after half and hour. A sharp cut-in from up-and-coming Expats youngster Chan Boon Hao made it 3-3 almost immediately, however, with
Rashid bin Ahmad caught ball-watching for once.
This would be the cue for Grilled's first two scorers to reprise their actions, with Muthyala and Mohd Safri taking charge as the Expats got driven back. Spanish custodian Arseni Reguart might have done better with those, but given that he had also pulled several fine stops off in between, it was hard to fault him too much that Expats would reach half-time 3-5 behind.
Given their relatively thin bench, Expats head coach and former Tunisian national star Majed Mansour seemed to agonize over whether to find a place for striker Fang Wai Ping, but decided against it. They did come out guns blazing for the second half, but Grilled's defence were equal to Koh Ah Shi's gargantuan efforts, and his minor concussion following a bad fall in the 55th minute dulled their edge somewhat.
Tian Yonghang, who had been shackled by Balauerföhr all game, finally broke free and hit a powerful diving header in the 64th, but Reguart was on to it. Grilled continued grinding away as the Expats continued shedding momentum, though, and
Neeraj Muthyala would get his hat-trick with a comparatively straightforward tap-in after a long and involved Grilled move. He could barely contain himself as he whooped with wild abandon, and even the normally restrained Moey couldn't help from jumping onto him.
Reality would then give Muthyala a minor lesson, as his misjudgement allowed Tuleja to get another back for the Expats with ten minutes to go, but that would ultimately have no impact on the outcome, especially after
Tian Yonghang regained Grilled's three-goal cushion with a well-taken curler to end it, while making it 100 cup goals for himself.
