Rovers Tamped
Wong Down
With morale hanging precipitously low, the Birds badly needed a win, and they got it in the third round of the Singapore Cup against Tampines Rovers F.C.. The hosts strick first, but outstanding support play from the frontline - especially from skipper
Tian Yonghang - would pull Grilled through in due course.
Having upset Purmei Inc. to get this far, the current IV.46 leaders would stick to Lew Kian Kiong's trademark narrow 3-4-3 to good effect, with Danish wingman Lenny Asmussen providing his accustomed asymmetric on the right; Grilled for their part continued keeping faith in their teenagers, who however at least would have the formidable
Yuki Irie and
Yuta Nakakita cleaning up behind them.
While not exactly the most star-studded team the Birds had come against, Rovers' familiarity and belief in Lew's system was clearly in evidence. Granted that Grilled were in fact returning to a tighter setup, with the impending departure of
Wong Ping Shun, but their lightweight midfield were rather less used to the rough-and-tumble involved, compared to Rovers' seasoned pros. As it was, it took all of
Moey Xin Seng's wits for him to guide his mates through a turbulent opening.
The home team kept the intensity up, and it was difficult to tell who was getting the upper hand, for much of the first twenty minutes. Rovers' Maltese captain Errol Cachia picked his passes well, with Italian Nicola Malara undeniably bossing his area, but
Tian Yonghang's dropping deep neutralised much of that advantage. An uneasy balance was thus maintained, up until
Wong Tian Han had his cheek gashed, in a robust aerial battle against Chua Seng Ming.
Chua was duly carded, but despite his apparent willingness to continue, the Grilled medic refused to clear the goalie. He would be replaced by
Krystian Rykowski, and the difference in experience would quickly become apparent, as former Scallop Soccer Team striker Sudama Kumar opened the scoring against him, with a hard but probably stoppable strike ripped in from the left.
The Birds wouldn't have too long to dwell upon that, though, as they went level in a minute or so.
Gennady Dvorak made the most of Mateusz Mliczek's contact, and Spanish referee Francesc Baig again called it Grilled's way. Certainly, neither Dvorak and Baig were making many friends at Tampines Stadium, especially after the former danced his way to the corner flag, after faking Patricio Nazario Negredo out on the spot kick.
This gave Grilled the kick up the pants they needed, and they finally began to look like the favourites they were; with their confidence suddenly burgeoning, the Grilled midfield would mix it up to remarkable effect, and
Hariharan Prabhu made the most of a foray inside, to get a deflected shot past Negredo with four minutes left in the half. The Rovers support were definitely not impressed, but Prabhu could have cared less.
The mood inside would get close to murderous when Dvorak got his double ten minutes after the restart, and Tian had to prevent the Argentine from riling up the crowd too much, as he made for the home section. It was perhaps slightly unfortunate that
Chu Xin Lee's exquisite assist, a beautifully breaking forty-yarder fanned from his own half, did not get the on-the-spot acknowledgement that it deserved, but it nevertheless served as a reminder of what Chu was capable of, at his best.
It was probably just as well that the goal came when it did, as Grilled's young midfield was beginning to show signs of not pacing themselves properly -
Kalki Parvathaneni for one had attempted to make up for a lack of nous with raw workrate, and he would be down to almost walking pace for long stretches of the game. There was no suggestion that Luis Alcántara ever considered bailing him with a substitution, in a display of tough love.
Luckily, his seniors would pick up the slack, and the Birds probably even created more chances, with Rovers now forced to chase the game. Tian for one seemed far younger than his 36 years with his ebullience, and after a sick turn that left Wong Siong Han snapping at empty space, teed it up for Prabhu to advance against Negredo unhindered. Unfortunately, he would crash it against the bar.
Clark Won would sew it up in the 80th with his calm sidefoot following a neat one-two with
Leong Wan Kang, with Dvorak narrowly missing out on a hat-trick from a direct free-kick, to the home fans' undisguised delight.
Moey Xin Seng hadn't endeared himself to them either, having purposefully held up Cachia's throw-in rather unsportingly,
for which he was booked.
