Ezlinkton Make It Hard
Nailbiter Shaded
The Birds just about squeezed their way past East Coast Division Three club Ezlinkton Rovers to reach the fifth round of the Singapore Cup, in an unlikely thriller that only really came to life after eighty minutes. After seemingly being dead and buried by Grilled's surprisingly methodical approach, melded with a couple of flashes of wizardry, the Rovers bashed their way to extra time with a very late combo... and it would only get more incredible.
All signs had pointed to a competitive matchup before the game, given that
Djan Bacelar had shown no intention of deviating from his youngster-first development policy for the competition; Ezlinkton had the upper hand here in that their own midfield trainees were a couple of years more mature, with the 20 year-old Norwegian Olav Andersen in particular a cut above the rest. Spanish expat Zhong Yuda served as a bridge to attack, with captain Tommaso Indaco commanding from the right wing.
The some fifty thousand home fans at Olympic Lyons Park would be in for a shock, however, as their team went behind barely two minutes in. They had not even obtained possession, when
Moey Xin Seng opportunistically slid a tame-looking through pass at their defence, only for German centreback Henrik Soschinka to lose his footing.
Leong Wan Kang, who happened to be closing down, would pounce on the slip, and
Chu Xin Lee retrieved the free ball before knocking it past goalkeeper-coach Alexandru Coroianu.
Soschinka was mortified at his mistake, and would only return to his feet after getting pulled up by fellow defender Enea Rossi. As it was, this was hardly a death blow, as Ezlinkton went forward with venom, and Czech winger Dalimil Fidra seemed to have had a good shout for a penalty, when he went over
Yuta Nakakita right on the fringe of the penalty area. A furious Nakakita immediately accused Fidra of diving, though, and referee Kobe Beenkens would take his side, showing an indignant Fidra the yellow card.
With Fidra taking this very badly indeed, to the point of flirting with an early shower with his ensuing protest tackles, Coroianu made the wise call of substituting him for the more level-headed Luis Serrano. Serrano would dominate against
Hariharan Prabhu in the main, but the chance of the half would fall to Moey, who threw unreservedly himself into a flying header in the 33rd minute, nearly injuring himself. Coroianu bailed Ezlinkton out then, going down quickly to palm the plunging header aside.
Other than that, it was difficult to claim that Grilled were in the better position. The opening goal notwithstanding, the hosts were the more assured on the ball by a large margin, and it was only raw hustle that kept the Birds ahead. Moey himself would collect his third yellow of the season - and third in as many cup games - covering for
Kalki Parvathaneni, whose jejune constantly reminded the spectators that he was, after all, just seventeen.
Hard work remained the order of the day, it seemed, as Parvathaneni came close to scoring early in the second half. His pace was finally put to good use when Grilled broke in strength, from a defensive posture.
Tian Yonghang had multiple options as he brought it up, and decided to cut back and swing it in for Parvathaneni on his near side. The Ezlinkton defence hadn't been expecting that, but it was sent narrowly wide anyhow.
The match had been gradually boiling over ever since Fidra's incident in the first half, which had only been exacerbated by petty fouling by both sides. With time running out, the rate of these exchanges would only accelerate, and Prabhu would finally be booked for holding onto Serrano once too often. Zhong Yuda would join him three minutes later, as he launched a dangerous studs-up challenge at
Yuki Irie, in a failed attempt to retrieve possession.
And then, it seemed to be over; having weathered Ezlinkton's sustained if not very concentrated barrage, Yuta would recognize opportunity as space opened up behind their advanced lines, and strung a sixty-yard through ball right down the middle, 82 minutes in. Moey instinctively helped it on as Andersen bore down on him, and who would get onto the end of it, but
Hariharan Prabhu. Having not managed to score in his first twenty-eight appearances for the club, the formerly-reserved Prabhu made up for lost time, poking in his second in two games.
Grilled's extended celebrations proved very premature, as the hosts finally found their feet. Honestly, they should probably have found the net long before this, but Andersen's breathtaking assist on to Zhong was definitely a case of better late than never. Evading three challenges before unleashing his pass, the Norwegian all but served it up to his teammate on a plate.
Still, there was preciously little time left for Ezlinkton to find an equaliser, but they would somehow take far less than that; almost mirroring the beginning of the game,
Yuta Nakakita would stumble as he ran to reach a lobbed pass ahead of Rui André Castro, who would scoot away with it after that. In his defence, Nakakita appeared to have been inadvertently clipped by Suphi Otuk as the two set off, but the referee would have no opinion on this one, despite Yuta's loud complaints.
Extra time it was, then, and the first period saw next to no significant activity, with the players content to play it safe, launching bombs for their strikers from their own half. It was almost as if all concerned were content with settling it by a shootout... when Ezlinkton captain Tommaso Indaco powered his way down the left, and delivered the supporters into a frenzy with a thunderbolt of a strike that shaved
Wong Tian Han's hairdo.
They were surely through now, with Dvorak getting booked after using his elbows against Soschinka, as the Birds piled forward desperately. Ezlinkton were not able to hold on to the ball, though, but they were happy enough to clear their lines, which left Grilled with one final chance at saving the match.
Djan Bacelar substituted
Valentin Batâr on for Chu, ostensibly in the hope of gaining every last shred of advantage, for the last rumble inside Ezlinkton's box.
Wong Tian Han duly hefted it in from his own half, as Ezlinkton decided not to contest the throw-in, and the stadium exploded in delirium when Kobe Beenkens blew his whistle after Tommy Jakobsen headed it well away... before realising that it was for a penalty! Raucous disbelief melted into a sullen hubbub when replays showed clearly that
Clark Won had been all but clotheslined by two defenders as he tried to make a run at the far post, though, and
Gennady Dvorak coolly swept it past Coroianu from the spot, which foreshadowed the
actual final whistle.
If the fans had been after entertainment, they had certainly gotten their money's worth. There remained the small matter of deciding the winner, though, and Zhong Yuda stuffed the first spot kick home after Indaco won the coin toss. Dvorak then beat Coroianu again; Enea Rossi sent
Wong Tian Han the wrong way, and Grilled's new signing
Valentin Batâr volunteered to go next. Hearts skipped a beat when Coroianu guessed right, but Batâr had placed it too well in the end.
Suphi Otuk and
Wong Tian Han then made it 3-3, before Wong saved brilliantly from Leander Trane's gutsy straight-on rising strike. The devastated 19 year-old could barely bear to watch as
Tian Yonghang tapped his shot in after getting Coroianu to commit first, and another Wong block, this time off Olav Andersen, was enough.
