Grilled Birds 4 - 5 [a.e.t]
Claseek 
Heart Rediscovered
Rodrigues Decider
They might have been stopped out by Claseek in the Cup, but the Birds were hardly shamed by the manner of their defeat, as they took their former fierce league rivals to the depths of extra time. An incredible spell of inventiveness early in the second half had nearly destroyed the opponents' self-belief, and they had to draw deep within their own reserves, to finally outlast Grilled.
Given that this was a mature Claseek side that had smashed Grilled 9-1 on aggregate last season, and that the Birds' already-declining strikeforce had been disbanded - and remains unreplaced - since then, another thrashing appeared very much on the cards. What's more,
Tian Yonghang would start on the bench, and despite
Moey Xin Seng being assigned the responsibility of driving the team from midfield, there remained no apparent reason as to why they stood a chance.
Jorge Fernando Ram's third-minute goal certainly didn't help matters for the Birds. Grilled again proved vulnerable to the pace found throughout Claseek's attack, and Mara Roekanda would overlap sleekly on the left, and planted a pass short for Ram to thump past
Valentin Batâr on the crossover.
Grilled were gasping at merely surviving this onslaught, and they found themselves quite unprepared to match Claseek's tempo. They would acclimatize gradually, though, with
Cyril Künzler setting a good example by shadowing Yeo Hao Cheng excellently. Ram would nevertheless nearly score another with a dipping strike in the 16th minute, but the Birds were at least organizing a few breakouts of their own.
Things were getting heated up as the Birds grew in confidence, and there was a great hue and cry from their supporters, as Roekanda took
Kalki Parvathaneni's legs from beneath him in the 24th minute, right when the local Indian forward seemed to have him beaten on the turn. Referee Teoh Lek would come up with the yellow card eventually, but Künzler's free-kick into the centre of the six-yard box would be claimed by José María Albornos after some bobbling.
Claseek seemed to have sewn it up in the 31st minute, as they made it 2-0 with Grilled yet to solidly test Albornos. Portuguese striker Feliciano Rodrigues, who had struck thrice against the Birds in their last two meetings, made the most of the slight opening left by
Gene Filippone, as he moved to cover the near side of goal.
For all of the Grilled players' workrate, there was very little to indicate at half-time, that this game would turn out differently than expected; the betting spreads had suggested a four-goal margin, and with Claseek halfway there - and the Birds barely mustering up an attempt of note - this looked to be just about par.
The unexpected would happen soon at Olympic Lyons Park, though, as the Birds hit back almost from nothing.
Kalki Parvathaneni appeared to have run into a dead end in the 50th minute, but he would go past two defenders on a frighteningly direct run, before slipping it by Claseek skipper Siba Pati and chasing it himself. And, to top it all off, he then put it between the goalie's legs, making for an early submission for Grilled's goal of the season.
The Claseek defence had yet to recover from their shellshock, when Grilled went at them once more, with the mien of a team with nothing to lose, and all to gain. A madcap advance up the left, mostly thanks to
Ang Leong Kum, would cumulate in
Neeraj Muthyala's desperate pullback on the slide, being helped into his own net by a retreating Ang Chu Feng.
A morose Ang didn't seem inclined to contest Muthyala's claim, and the match restarted once more, this time with Grilled clearly the side on the hunt. Interestingly, Claseek were less than comfortable on the defence too, and the Birds would prise them open in the 61st minute to take the lead for the first time.
Mohammad Ramli Saliman was dancing about on the ball considering his options, before chancing a snap shot, which was just sudden enough to beat Albornos.
Claseek were there for the taking at this point, and it took several incredible stops by Albornos, to stay Grilled's charge. They were still tottering when they caught a lifeline in the 70th, as an over-exuberant Muthyala tried to force his way through a crowd, and wound up losing the ball with most of his teammates committed. Claseek worked the counter well, and Filipino wingback Lito Mejares made it all square, filtering over into the centre as Rodrigues pulled the defence wide.
A cagey final twenty minutes would not yield much in the way of opportunities, but it would allow
Djan Bacelar to play his trump card for extra time -
Tian Yonghang. Tian's inclusion for
Chu Xin Lee would grant Grilled an immediate lift, but it would be Claseek who would again get off to the better start. Again three minutes in, Ang Chu Feng would atone for his earlier misstep, as he flew in to head Tung Guicheng's cross in, over
Hoàng Trung Quá's best blocking efforts.
Sensing that this could well be enough against a tiring Grilled team, Doğan Pürçek urged his men to begin prioritizing possession, which would lead to
Moey Xin Seng going in hard on a dallying Mukund Trivedi, once he recognized what was happening. Trivedi moved the ball out of the way just in time, though, and Moey wound up eating a booking.
Claseek were sticking to the gameplan pretty tightly, but they hadn't counted on Grilled getting a giant slice of luck, 108 minutes in. Saliman had been boxed out, and had to blindly heel it backwards lest he run it out behind, when it came off Pati's shin, and off his hand. The Claseek players would protest the penalty loudly, but given that Tian was waiting in a scoring position had the backheel gone through, the award was perhaps not overly unjust.
Cyril Künzler took over from there, and after sizing Albornos up for an instant, fired an accurate grounder to the left post that the Argentine couldn't quite reach, despite guessing correctly.
Feliciano Rodrigues would cause the drama to die down almost as soon as it begun, however. Tung would go by
Ang Leong Kum on the outside as the slowing Number 23 flagged, and a straightforward diagonal forward pass was latched onto early by Rodrigues, catching the Grilled defence by surprise. Before they had the time to realign themselves, Rodrigues had unleashed a low one that
Valentin Batâr could probably have done better with.
Djan Bacelar could only lower his head at that blow, and although
Moey Xin Seng demonstrated his defiance with a respectable long-range try, there would be no coming back.
Jérémy Tarin was put on with a minute remaining to have a crack from a late, late free-kick, but it would prove nearly impossible to trouble a prepared Albornos from nearly forty yards out.
