Entering The Mainstream
Whassup Doug?
Grilled Birds eased into a narrow 2-1 home win over Sarcastic Fringeheads, and in doing so, established a clear six-point lead at the halfway mark of the season, which was about as much as could be dreamt of. New signing
Douglas Carapaica would not disappoint on his official league debut, as he took just twenty-two minutes to place himself amongst those who have scored for the club.
The stakes could hardly be higher for this match - a Grilled win would cement them as heavy favourites to retain the title, while a Fringeheads win would have them level on points, and send a strong message moreover on humbling the Birds at home. A draw, as the last meeting between the duo at The Cooking Pot had ended, would be less conclusive, but one supposes that the visitors would have taken it.
As in that 3-3 tie, Fringeheads laid themselves out defensively, and moreover abandoned challenging for possession completely, with their 5-4-1. This did free up a floating defender with the sole purpose of following
Chan Ze Han around, which Bogdan Bărbulescu fulfilled with a firm resolve. That did blunt Chan's effectiveness to a great extent, but Grilled always had other treasures to draw upon.
This included
Mateja Jeftić, who would be less constrained than usual given Fringeheads fielding Finn Karlsson as a lone striker, and with
Teo Chuan Yong and
Bernie Egan dutifully rotating back as needed. Jeftić's foray in the eleventh minute might have been more productive had he gone for the pass early, but as it was, it would conclude in a forced shot and routine save by Artur Rosa Gomes Oliveira.
Chan Ze Han was not completely marked out of the match despite Bărbulescu's bruising attentions, but they definitely affected him, with his weak 19th minute effort reversed through the middle, but
Jānis Salmiņš held his ground against Mel Vayeshnoi. Few noticed
Douglas Carapaica steaming upfield in response - he was supposed to be the conservative, stay-back defender, after all - but Fringeheads will surely be disabused of that mistaken notion, as the Panama debutant absorbed Huang Jianming's shoulder charge handily, before bundling
Chu Xin Lee's flick-on into the net.
The home fans probably weren't expecting to break out their prepared cheesy "
A Man, A Plan" cheer on a goal instead of a big tackle or interception, but they were certainly not unwilling. The catchy chant was still going on in spurts, when
Teo Chuan Yong evaded Vayeshnoi to unleash a rocket from just outside the penalty area in the 30th, with Chan screening; Oliveira had to be on his toes there, and it was just as well as he met it with both fists, as one suspected that it would not have been enough otherwise.
Sarcastic Fringeheads were wily enough that one could hardly think them entirely out of it, despite having only created the one opening in the first half-hour, and they nearly pulled off a classic centre-forward's goal in the 33rd through Gareth Illes's cross from the left - only Karlsson couldn't quite get over the ball. The Birds attack that followed would result in a penalty after
Vikram Mudaliar was felled holding the ball up in the box, but
Mateja Jeftić tried to guarantee it by going for the top corner, and wound up shaving the woodwork.
The visitors seemed convinced that this miss could prove instrumental, from how they celebrated it like one of their own goals, and from the supporters' silence, many had to feel likewise. Fringeheads certainly never gave off an air of capitulation, more one of biding their time, and so it was when they replaced veteran Vincent Chan with Andrej Apatič, in the 55th minute.
It could hardly have been preplanned, but Apatič would have Fringeheads level barely two minutes after coming on. Jeftić seemed the black sheep of the day, with the equalizer indirectly resulting from his free-kick, with that being again warded aside by Oliveira; the swift counter required Douglas to take Karlsson down in a not entirely neat manner, and although the defender escaped a booking, Apatič was able to bend a brilliant free-kick over the wall, and past a diving Salmiņš.
Fringeheads head coach Jorge Vicente Zegers sensed vulnerability here, and sought to press their case by making another tactical substitution, Lillebror Bengtsson in for David Koppensteiner. This would be rather less effective than the previous, however, and Grilled Birds would be ahead again, six minutes later.
Bernie Egan had not been especially distinguished on the right, but this one assist to
Bilal Mohammad Harun would be worth the whole appearance, as Egan somehow picked him out when keeping the ball in was an achievement in itself.
Zegers wasn't the only one with a killer instinct, with
Chan Ze Han definitely also possessing one on the Grilled side, and the Number Eleven was poised to make doubly sure of victory, as he broke through for a one-on-one against the goalkeeper, on the Birds' next move after the restart. Bărbulescu would for once be left behind after a clever doubling-up by Mudaliar, but there was still the formidable Oliveira to account for, and the Portuguese custodian exceeded expectations by not falling for Chan's first feigned shot, and getting down pronto for the real one.
That did mean that Fringeheads remained very much in contention for a draw at least, especially as Jeftić's poor free-kick into the box was easily cleared. Heine Andreassen replaced Zegers as Fringeheads expectedly went with a more direct approach, but Douglas and Jeftić would be able to cope.
Wu Jinglong entered for
Kalle ter Berg as the Birds' only sub with five minutes remaining, and the experienced Chinaman would be very much content with preserving the status quo.
