Jess Too Strong
Tenant Rights
It never rains but it pours, as Woodlands' jessica FC dealt Grilled their heaviest Singapore Cup defeat in seven seasons, dealing out a 6-0 thrashing to the Birds' hodgepodge of mostly reserves, sprinkled with a dash of regulars.
It would have been difficult to argue that the Cup was Grilled's priority, given what they put out -
Moey Xin Seng and
Neeraj Muthyala were assigned to defence, with
Yuta Nakakita the only big name in midfield. In stark contrast, jessica FC held little back, with experienced strikers Sean Tenant and Roman Bakuta arguably a level above anything the Birds had to offer.
Grilled were thus put into the unfamiliar circumstance of having to fight from an inferior position in the second round, and in all honesty, the gap was pretty wide. Though the soggy turf affected both teams, it was jessica FC that modified their style more naturally, and Tenant - never a huge proponent of finesse - thrived in particular. Ten minutes in, he slogged past a physically outmatched Moey, to thump in a resounding first goal.
There wasn't much to write home about the technique on display, but one team was clearly dominating, and it wasn't the Birds. The adverse conditions punished anything less than excellent control, as a retreating
Ahmed Pećanić discovered to his dismay; his heavy first touch knocked the ball far harder than Muthyala was expecting, and Polish fullback Tomasz Serwinowski was eager to snap the gift up, rounding
Valentin Batâr into the bargain for 2-0.
Tenant then exemplified the classic no-nonsense British forward, with his solid header on Achilles Vanoutrive's looping cross, as Batâr found himself muscled out by the big Scot. A few minutes later, Norwegian midfielder Torger Solli further extended their lead with a crisp take from the corner of the six-yard box, leaving Batâr and his defenders questioning themselves rightly.
Djan Bacelar looked every bit the man under pressure, as he lost himself in contemplation after the hosts' second goal. Several times during the first half, he made as if to order a switch, only to check himself. In the end, he would send
Cyril Künzler and
Mohammad Ramli Saliman on after the interval to try and salvage something, but even they knew that it was probably too late for a rescue job.
That said, the additions did at least make Grilled more competitive. Now at least armed with an actual threat down the right side, they could begin calling some of jessica FC's bluffs. Indeed, four minutes into the second half, fullback Tomasz Serwinowski tried to gain a few extra yards in backing up Vanoutrive, as he had done so often before, only to be scorched by Künzler's speed. Unfortunately,
Christopher Mauget wasn't quick enough to get on the end of the resulting through ball, which was then shepherded out by Jari Klar.
Grilled would suffer the blowback soon enough, as their inexperienced midfield had forgotten to hold their shape, in their eagerness to prove themselves. There were far too few available to stem jessica FC's surge, after Ezti Olaitzola picked Tenant out after receiving his goalie's throw-out, and an understated sleight-of-foot by Bakuta saw Achilles Vanoutrive free and clear. Batâr tried to make himself big, but found himself too slow to react no thanks to the waterlogged ground.
The sixth and final goal was then scored by Tenant, who thereby recorded his seventh career hat-trick. The Birds knew they were well beat then, and contented themselves with limiting the damage received. It didn't turn out quite so good for Vanoutrive, who suffered an unintentional knee to the thigh from Künzler as the duo raced, and he had to go off with extensive bruising to the area.
