And Farewell
Safri Turns Out Lights
Mohd Safri bin Mohd Kassim would end his long and glittering career at the place where it all began, The Cooking Pot, against one of his most respected foes, Shining Lights. The visitors, whom like Grilled are in the midst of a rebuilding process, very kindly turned it down a notch for Mohd Safri's testimonial, and he would rightly go out as he started against Chemistry, all those years ago - with a goal.
The former S-League champions did start their current national youth player Phua Cheng Teck in midfield, lest they were seen to be making it too easy, while the Birds sought to give their hometown hero the sendoff he deserved, with
Tian Yonghang,
Ang Leong Kum and
Clark Won joining Mohd Safri on the attack.
It wouldn't be long before Tian got the ball rolling, with a dipping strike off
Yuki Irie's sweeping pass from his own half. The Lights players appeared to be standing aside for that one in an almost too gentlemanly fashion, however.
They would begin putting up stiffer resistance, while still happy enough to keep it as a defensive training exercise, and it took
Ang Leong Kum's initiative against Slovenian skipper Šime Vršnak, to create an assist for the ever-alert Tian, 19 minutes in.
Mohd Safri had not been having the best of days, despite clearly having his heart in it, but there was nothing dishonest in his going down after being tripped by Tony Tan in the box. He would take the penalty himself, of course, and slotted it past an immobile Roland Hajjar to spark an outpouring of cheers from the stands.
Now in the flow,
Chu Xin Lee would add a fourth on a lay-off from the man himself, who would exchange some familiar banter with old friend
Tian Yonghang, after the latter completed a hat-trick in the 30th. It was not hard to guess that it was about Tian upstaging him on his big day, though of course it was all for fun. Probably.
Shining Lights apparently decided that they had been accommodating enough in the first half, and would come out of the tunnel with a rather more serious take. Indeed, although fielding a veteran defence, they were fiendishly hard to break down, and Hajjar couldn't help but deny
Ang Leong Kum with a graceful arching save, reaching behind his head.
Grilled evidently figured that this was a sign to send on the bigger guns, and put newly-crowned Player of the Season
Gennady Dvorak on, to spice up the remaining twenty minutes. The Lights coped admirably with the Argentine, but would concede eventually another penalty to him. Mohd Safri was hustled to the spot, and sent Hajjar the wrong way this time.
While this would have made an exceedingly appropriate full-stop for both the game and Mohd Safri's career, it might well not have turned out that way, with Lights' Tom Asaa forcing the otherwise unworked
Dan Seng into a wondersave with five minutes to go. Hajjar would prevent good late efforts from Dvorak and
Moey Xin Seng, however, to preserve the honour of the last goal for the outgoing legend.
