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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 53 | D | 4 - 4 | Tournament (Group Phase) |
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An Almighty Pain
Triple Crocking
J3 Almighty were another long-standing local side that Grilled had yet to meet officially, but they might have rethought the encounter had they known how it would turn out. The Birds would use all their three substitutions by the 58th minute, and to take the cake, two of them would be for the substitutes themselves.
There was little hint that it would turn out these way; relations between the club ownerships were cordial to say the least, with the hosts having had a brief trainee tie-up with the Farmer Bunnies, that delivered Ibad Hanis and Makarim Dhiya Azza. The only previous tournament game between the sides, nine seasons prior, had ended in a draw - an outcome that would be repeated.
The similarities would end about there, with J3 Almighty fielding a reserve XI with a view towards practising defence; Belgian skipper Yenthe Van Droogenbroeck would be their main outlet on the right wing, with 40 year-old veteran Zhang Chee Ze serving his time out up top.
Grilled were scarcely more ambitious, though they too had a big name on the right, as
Yuta Nakakita made a miracle recovery from his dislocated knee. Sauntering out with it heavily taped up, the defensive midfielder displayed few signs of it affecting his mobility, and further dispelled worries by leading with a fierce sliding tackle on Krzysztof Feliksik.
He would have good cause to be worried, though, as the hungry J3 Almighty backups were certainly not holding anything back. What they lacked in polish they more than made up in aggressiveness, and it was all Luis Alcántara could do to keep his men from retaliating and turning it into an outright brutal battle.
There were a few shining moments to be had in between all the leg-clipping, and
Leong Wan Kang made the most of one of them, hitting
Mohammad Ramli Saliman's knock-on straight into the roof of the net, in the 27th minute.
Moey Xin Seng then came close straight from the intercepted restart, but tried to be too clever with his final chip.
J3 Almighty were not to be intimidated at home, though, and Van Droogenbroeck led by example, refusing to pull out of a head-on collision with
Remco van der Ban. The referee saw it was rough but fair, but
Kalki Parvathaneni had other ideas, and refused to give up the ball until he had said his piece. He would wind up booked for his pains, as Remco hobbled off for
Zhao Jing Wei.
The home supporters would really enjoy it when their captain rubbed it in, with a second go after
Chu Xin Lee had overrun a pass, before winning it back himself. Poor Zhao would become the match's second victim barely four minutes into his stint, after getting flattened by a careless Zhang.
Alcántara was furious at the inferred lack of protection that his players were getting, but Zhang would get off scot-free nonetheless. Parvathaneni would get something back for the Birds at least before half-time, with a smoothly-worked set-up right through the centre of J3 Almighty's backline.
The home team were not letting up, but they would have little luck with their telegraphed long balls to the isolated Zhang, either. They would be rather more effective in sending Grilled players off injured, and Alcántara would completely blow his top when Leong Chi Jun stuck a foot into
Clark Won's stomach, in the 57th minute. This was something that even the famously-lenient Jean-Matthieu Coulon could not overlook, but the belated booking wouldn't help Won's health any.
The spectators at the Cosy Cottage would thus be treated to the strange sight of
Rinor Isufi at leftback, though he would slowly work his way upfield, in rotation with Parvathaneni and Saliman. The three of them would fight fire with fire, and after Saliman was himself carded for unnecessary contact on Van Droogenbroeck, Parvathaneni nearly found a second with a cheeky lob.
J3 Almighty would finish very strongly, however, and the final ten minutes belonged to them.
Krystian Rykowski would just about survive a near miss from the young Leong Chi Jun, who flung himself onto Brooks Ryu's cushioned header. There would be no escape from the next corner kick, however, as Feliksik attacked Van Droogenbroeck's delivery unhindered.
With all their substitutions expended, Grilled would have to get through extra time with their existing personnel, and they in fact would turn the tables.
Hoàng Trung Quá and
Yuta Nakakita would have fine efforts turned aside by Falko Lindheim, but
Leong Wan Kang and
Moey Xin Seng scored during the shootout to claim final victory, as
Krystian Rykowski came up with the stops.
