Solace Sought
None Found
Claseek were hardly the ideal club to host when trying to break a streak of losses, and the minute's silence preceding the game - out of respect for Chapecoense - might well have doubled up for the Birds, from what would follow at The Cooking Pot.
Innocuously reflecting the team's current state, the ground had probably seen better days, thanks to the intermittant rain in the days leading up to the game preventing proper maintenance from being done. It was a fixture representing futility more than anything, as the visitors had cleaned up pretty easily earlier in the season, and this was facing an even weaker Grilled squad.
The departures of Gennady Dvorak and Low Aik Jia aside,
Yuki Irie had only made the bench under sufferance from the club doctors, and of course Hariharan Prabhu was on a plane bound for South Africa. The last would be replaced by
Clark Won on the left, but it would soon be evident why Won had been - at best - third-choice for that position.
It was also obvious why Claseek were leading the league, as they instantly began stroking the ball around with a palpable confidence, the sort of which Grilled had once possessed, a long time ago. The conditions, somehow, just appeared to affect them far less than it did the home team, and Grilled were left to ponder just how much Prabhu could have done against a stellar Ang Chu Feng, had he remained.
Not much, it would seem, as there was no question which team was more effective in possession. Grilled tried to rely on an overburdened
Tian Yonghang to little success, while Claseek's far more diversified approach forced
Valentin Batâr into a wondersave against Mukund Trivedi as early as the 12th minute. There was no recourse to Feliciano Rodrigues burning
Gene Filippone for pace in the 28th, though, and the Portuguese stylishly vaulted Batâr after rolling it around the grounded goalkeeper.
There was more pointless passing it about midfield to come for the Birds, who found no answer as to how to breach Claseek's defence, which had just conceded eight thus far in the leage; Tian was not his former self,
Rinor Isufi was severely curtailed given the heavy turf, and
Moey Xin Seng was simply not a forward, not just yet. Ang Chu Feng had no such problems, putting it up to 2-0 with six minues of the half remaining, with further efforts by Rodrigues and Tung Guicheng happily stopped by Batâr.
Only Grilled's midfield managed to come out of that half with any credit as all, but the fact remained that
Djan Bacelar had no solution, almost by design.
Chu Xin Lee had continually been trying to get the head coach's attentions after about half an hour, but while not apparently irritated by the youngster's earnestness, Bacelar gave no sign that he was prepared to put him on.
Perhaps he should have, as Grilled gave no sign that they knew what to do in any case. The players shifted their hopes to Moey, but he didn't have the individual tools to dismantle Siba Pati's defence, either. Mara Roekanda would up the score to 3-0 in the 63rd minute, with an impressive overhead strike from Yeo Hao Cheng's cross, which did get Bacelar to experiment with
Kalki Parvathaneni and
Zhao Jing Wei, in place of the disappointing Tian and Filippone respectively.
This would be the 38 year-old Zhao's first competitive appearance in over a season, but his eyes betrayed Grilled's plight, as he took over the armband from old friend
Tian Yonghang. Kalki at least was significantly more dynamic than the departed captain, particularly at this stage of the match, but
Rinor Isufi slipping comically on Grilled's best half-chance for a consolation about summed it all up.
There would be time left for Ian Kleine to maintain his near-unique record of scoring in every meeting against the Birds thus far, as the Swiss forward scooted onto another measured through pass by Yeo, for his sixth goal in five games. There probably won't be more for some time, if only due to Claseek's probable promotion, and Grilled's concurrent demotion down the ranks.
