Tral By Fire
Wong Saves Day
Tanglin Division Four club Westral FC took a shaky-looking Grilled lineup to penalties at their near-packed Commonwealth stadium today, and only the huge hands of
Wong Tian Han kept them from claiming one of the bigger scalps in their eleven season-long history. Known among Birds followers for taking on former trainees Aziman Khairil and Robbie Wing, the junior affiliate of recent league competitors saiNts United FC were perhaps hard done by their inability to put the game away.
They, in fact, had every right to do so, with the vibrant but guileless Grilled midfield paleing in every way, when measured against Westral's crop; even putting playmaking prodigy Terence Wing - who has garnered four national caps at the tender age of 23 - aside, Che Saidun Idris and Chia Kiong Dong were more than what
Moey Xin Seng and pals could hope to deal with.
This was reflected in the early going, as Grilled barely got a sniff of the ball. Westral's strange and not exactly warranted reluctance to venture forward probably hurt them more than it hurt the Birds, though, and the home fans were soon bemused at the sight of Wing etc. winning an aeriel duel nigh-effortlessly, only to then play it thirty yards back. Head coach Ouyang Guanzheng was unperturbed, however, and Westral were at the very least safe as houses, with Grilled hardly managing to break out of their own half throughout the first half.
The experienced
Tian Yonghang wisely didn't try overly hard to press the issue either, as he figured it better not to tempt Westral out of their shell. Instead, he settled for aiming to preserve possession for as long as he was able, reducing the risk on the Birds' youthful engine room.
Moey Xin Seng had his moments, but they were few and far between.
Westral's strategy would become apparent only after the restart, as their slow rolling siege finally yielded what they had been looking for - a corner kick. Karam Ezz, freshly signed from Arcturules, swung it into the crowd on the far end, and it emerged Che Saidun Idris to swell the net, with a mighty flick of his forehead.
Given how the first half had gone, the spectators could be forgiven for thinking that Westral had won it outright. Tian had other ideas, however, and the Grilled captain proved his value for the umpteenth time, picking out the perfect spot to be as
Gennady Dvorak drew defenders wide to the right, in the Birds' first attack of any significance. For the finish, Tian darted ahead of Soh Tian Dong at exactly the right moment, nicking the equaliser with a delightful economy of motion.
Grilled's troubles were, of course, far from over. Westral were still dominating the match handily, and it was down to the Birds to keep them out. Realising that their prey had some bite in them yet, the hosts began to actually set their sights on advancing the ball, and it was all
Yuta Nakakita could do to stem the breaches, scuttling from side to side.
There appeared no way that Grilled could come out of this pressure without conceding, but Moey would then divert it, if not in a particularly honourable way; with wingback Salman Ruslan Haikal vulnerable midway through trapping the ball, Moey came in with an uncompromising if perhaps technically-legal tackle, that took both the ball - and Salman's legs - away.
Moey did try to assist his stricken opponent after realising what had happened, but his gesture was not taken well by Salman's teammates, with Yip Feng Puay immediately trying to engage Moey in a shoving contest. Swedish referee Tomas Hasselbratt arrived at a sprint, fortunately, and defused the situation somewhat by punishing Moey with a yellow card at once.
This didn't mollify the home fans, who continued booing Moey each time he got the ball thereafter, but Grilled's brightest young star admirably shut it all out, and even improved with his passing. Westral for their part never quite recovered their stride, and their right winger Yeo Wai Fu would himself be booked for tugging
Low Aik Jia down by his jersey in the 77th. That said, Low had been fairly disappointing, and Luis Alcántara was not unjustified in switching the hungrier
Leonard Nguyen in for him, with extra time in mind.
If the first half was dire, the thirty minutes after the ninety were that multiplied, as Westral returned to their safety-first mantra. The Birds were in no position to force their way through, and it would soon be obvious that this fixture would be decided on penalties.
On the surface of it, it was unclear whether this was wise for the hosts; although their goalkeeper James Chan was decent, few would put him in the class of
Wong Tian Han as a pure shotstopper. In any case, Wong would not even be tested by Wing, who missed wide with an attempted trick runup, but
Chu Xin Lee would then hit the bar after volunteering to go first. Defender Soh Tian Dong would then put Westral ahead with their second kick.
Strangely, Grilled allowed their youngsters to take the shots, bypassing the expected takers such as
Gennady Dvorak, and Wong himself.
Kalki Parvathaneni and
Moey Xin Seng duly failed to score, but very fortunately for them,
Wong Tian Han kept the next two Westral takers at bay, with his imposing presence.
Grilled would level up through substitute
Leonard Nguyen, who was duly greeted with undisguised relief from Chu and company. The lottery would go on, and Wong saved stylishly against Leong Ho Kwang and goalscorer Che Saidun Idris, with
Yuta Nakakita putting it over in between. It would all come down to
Remco van der Ban, who became an unlikely hero with his cocky chip past Chan, to send the Birds through.
