Early And Late
Chan Making Up Time
After the match, it could have been claimed that one could have attended only the first and final ten minutes of this game between Ramseille Volliard FC and Grilled Birds, but it might not have been entirely accurate. True, all four goals happened in those short periods, but the remaining seventy-plus minutes did in fact have enough content to be worth watching, for the discerning eye at least.
Ramseille Volliard FC were still searching for their first S-League win for this campaign, after one draw and four defeats, and with an upcoming Singapore Cup semifinals against UDNTK FC, it might have been expected that their thoughts were elsewhere. Uruguay sweeper Elías Moreno would be Yeoh Wei Puay's only injury concern, as he in rehabilitation for a serious concussion, which has had local reserve Che Zaim Abdul Halim filling his usual role. Pundits have proposed Che Zaim as an obvious weak link that has contributed to Ramseille's indifferent performances, in the league at least.
Other than that, one can hardly deny that their stars are getting on in years, with Italian captain Sergio Sonino and his German mirror on the other wing Carl-Georg Reeperbahn, both already 36 - a ripe old age for wingers, definitely. The Birds for their part would unleash both their out-and-out wingmen for the first time in a while, and if
Wu Jinglong was no younger than his opposite numbers,
Heng Dong Chu at 30 years had to be considered a babe in arms, in comparison.
Kalle ter Berg would return to central midfield too, with
Teo Chuan Yong making way.
If the home fans at HighVolliard Park were expecting the Birds to be frustrated and slowly worn down, any such wishful thinking would be well and truly rebuffed, within just three minutes. The initial wave of chants had barely finished reverberating around the near-capacity arena, when Vincent Mudaliar received ball to feet from
Chan Ze Han, as Grilled undid the hosts' high press through a series of short passes. Mudaliar's swivel and dash in a single, explosive motion was more than the defenders had expected, though, and his pinpoint drive to the far bottom corner would just elude Giancarlo Buffon.
This was not what the Ramseille support were yearning for, and it wouldn't be getting better for them. They had at least made it to the second half before trailing, in their previous two fixtures, but Grilled were evidently in something of a hurry. Their next attack had
Chu Xin Lee make his run in behind Che Zaim, who was very much distracted by
Moey Xin Seng before him, and Leopold Lõhmus couldn't cut the through ball from
Kalle ter Berg out. Chu still had much to do, and did by calmly rounding Buffon after faking a chip - which must be seldom seen nowadays.
0-2 flickered unwillingly on the stadium's scoreboard, and the glum audience would grudgingly settle in for what looked like a long day. It might well have been, with the Birds continuing to be allowed to push the attack, not that Yeoh had much of an alternative with this setup. Grilled's relentless fusillade would be kept up for another ten minutes here, with
Bilal Mohammad Harun striking the post after being played on by
Wu Jinglong from the left in the ninth minute, and Buffon then making a great save off
Mateja Jeftić's curling attempt towards his far corner in the 14th.
That last would spark the home team's first clear attack of the match, as they countered en masse off Buffon's accurate long hurl out to an anticipatory Sonino on the right. With
Heng Dong Chu having advanced overfar in support, there would be plenty of space for the Ramseille skipper to operate, but he would wisely not try to waste too much time as support flooded in. Leopold Lõhmus would be the extra man released on this counter, but
Jānis Salmiņš did quite a bit to answer his growing party of critics, with a top-class reflex save.
Sølve Lunde was on hand to clear the danger, and while Ramseille might not have scored on this move, they did at least subdue the Birds' boundless exuberance to a large extent. The rest of the half would go as according to what was likely their initial plan, with Grilled contained more-or-less safely on the borders of their final third. However, they remained two goals behind, and it was not as if they could get many balls out to Hugo Lamm either.
The dreary stalemate would stretch deep into the second half, and
Moey Xin Seng's impatient strike over the bar in the 70th minute would only be the Birds' seventh shot of the match, a paltry return given that they had managed five by the 14th minute. The match was indeed taking a more careless turn, nonetheless, as Ramseille figured that they had to try and salvage it soon. Murathan Esinay made a brave run from midfield four minutes later, but good coverage by Lunde meant that Lamm retrieved the final pass, well out of position to shoot.
The Birds would be reignited mostly by Mudaliar's diligence thereafter, as the Number Nine's admirable fitness allowed him to pester Ramseille's defence with abandon. This nearly resulted in a second goal for himself, as he overran the last man in the 77th minute, only for his putaway to be blocked on the goalline. Undaunted, Mudaliar would call for the recovered ball, and his following flick to the near post would be helped just wide by Bilal.
Off the pitch, Bakhtiar had arranged for
Gilbert Webb to replace Lunde, and the substitution would be made before Buffon took the goal-kick. Very unfortunately for Ramseille, it would go short to Sonino, and
Heng Dong Chu's superior energy would be decisive in intercepting and bearing right down on their unprepared defence from the left. There was nobody on
Chan Ze Han when Heng centered the ball eventually, and this would prove lethal, as it so often does. Three-nil, Grilled.
Mudaliar would continue to be Grilled's main source of action from the left, but he would not be able to add to his tally, with another fine drive in the 82nd minute winding up about a foot wide into the side-netting. Mudaliar would go off to a hearty round of applause from the visiting fans in the final minute, along with Bilal, with
Prokop Mottl and
Teo Chuan Yong getting an appearance. At least one player wasn't done, though, and
Chan Ze Han would claim his fourth league goal of the season, with a farewell lob.
