Moey Hacks Matrix
Captain At The Death
Grilled Birds' season was headed towards a confirmed stillbirth, when skipper
Moey Xin Seng pulled out all the stops, to grasp a first victory at fourth try. Crypto Moon might have appeared the most promising side to get it again, from how they had lost their first three matches, and indeed they had not even scored in conceding eight in those games. They remained a fair force to be reckoned with at home and in the groove, though, and nearly managed a point against the Birds.
Following last season's fantastic start, Crypto Moon's head coach Horst Peter Sonnenberg had come under intense pressure for a long string of indifferent results, and their poor introduction to the new campaign has not done him any favours. Financial pressures had moreover forced him to divest of stars Ismaèl Caymaris and Stanton Smalley-Mace in the post-season, along with Salvador Ramos and Adrian Pânzari. In return for the some S$30 million recouped, Sonnenberg's biggest signing would be 19 year-old Spanish goalkeeper Diego Valdecañas for S$9.4 million, and he had not even made his league debut!
New Finnish midfielder Aki Sjöholm had established himself in Crypto Moon's starting lineup, on the other hand, but it remained a question of whether he could fully replace the departed, with the answer being no on current evidence. As for the visitors,
Hilal Bakhtiar had no qualms about touting this as a must-win in the build-up, and to that end had reverted to what the club was best known for: battering it through the centre.
Sølve Lunde and
Douglas Carapaica would start with Panigrahi benched, with
Teo Chuan Yong having his turn shoring up the right wing, and
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud at Number Ten.
The spectators would not have long to wait for the goals to come after French referee Urthridth Omari signalled the start, with
Vikram Mudaliar the one to draw first blood. Mudaliar had expressed his concern at not having contributed in a club exclusive last week, but this was not for want of trying; he was definitely not shy in going for goal after brushing past Sjöholm in the third minute, and the first-time chip went just high enough to escape Oldřich Skalička.
Crypto Moon's reply would bring far louder recognition from the partisan gallery, however, what more as it was their first league goal in over 275 minutes of S-League football thus far. Strikers Michal Cibulka and Joël Bastien were both prolific enough to start for many other top-flight teams, with Bastien just one goal away from a share of the Golden Boot last term. It would be Cibulka to conjure up their equalizer, though, as the Czech forward cleverly ducked Douglas' approach, earning him enough breathing room to burrow in and bury a grounder.
Still, Grilled were clearly easing themselves into control, with
Bilal Mohammad Harun given far more freedom than he was in Friday's Division Battle fixture. The 33 year-old was in his element now, shackling Abdettawab Bikri while getting involved in driving his fair share of attacks. Thus it was in the 20th minute, as he pushed into space after the hosts' midfield had advanced wholesale a little too prematurely. There were passes available on both flanks, but Bilal went the direct route to
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud, and was rewarded with an assist as the new man racked up his fifth goal in eight starts.
That was an excellent return however one sliced it, and the Birds continued to try and wrap this one up, as cracks started to show in Crypto Moon's facade. The departure of several influential players had affected their fluency, and they could be thankful that
Sølve Lunde was not a natural finisher, when
Moey Xin Seng knocked it on to him following a corner kick in the 27th. This might have perhaps taught Moey to do it himself, as he did when not confronted on the edge of the penalty area, some eight minutes later. 3-1.
With things looking up, Bakhtiar would double down by switching
Heng Dong Chu on for
Kalki Parvathaneni on the left, but it wasn't clear if this had a positive impact. Certainly, Crypto Moon were the ones asking many more questions in the second half, with Codardo and Cibulka leading by example. A wonderful short cross from the former would be lifted inches over by Zacharias Troch after 59 minutes, but
Jānis Salmiņš' attempt at a quick restart would be intercepted, and pacy Swiss midfielder Ben Göttler would not be denied on the resurrected chance.
Bakhtiar would not dally in making further tweaks at that, and expended his remaining subs in the 70th minute, with Panigrahi and Kamel replacing Lunde and Teo respectively. This did give the Birds a brief second wind of sorts, and their improved resilience would earn them a free-kick smack at Panigrahi's favourite spot, with ten minutes left. The Grilled Number Two went for the near top corner, and although Skalička would have had no hope were it on target, the curling delivery would breeze just high.
And then, disaster - Crypto Moon were struck by an intoxicating mix of invention and industry, and Joël Bastien would emerge from between two Grilled men after several short and sharp interpasses, and spotted Francesco Codardo entirely free to equalize once more. Grilled's right defence seemed curiously unattended, though, and replays would lead to suspicions that
Douglas Carapaica had been kneed between his legs by the Belgian, as both turned to chase the through ball. The camera angles were inconclusive for the fourth official, however, and Codardo's goal would stand after some deliberation.
Hilal Bakhtiar was having none of that, as he raved by the sidelines throughout the entire stoppage for Douglas to receive succor, but to no avail. The guillotine must have felt closer than ever to the head coach's neck... and then, his captain came up with the goods. Much has been made of
Chan Ze Han's never-say-die spirit, but Moey had been doing it before Chan entered the scene, and the homegrown veteran would carry the team once again. Receiving ball to feet just outside the penalty area, Moey spun to the outside of Sylvain Paradis like his much younger self, and fearlessly stuck it high into the net before anyone else could approach.
The visiting stand absolutely went wild at the prospective winner, but this game was far from over, in fact. The few that had left early would also have much to regret, as they would miss Skalička's world-class save from Mudaliar, as Grilled sought to put an end to the argument. The hosts might well have made something of their free-kick from a messy high challenge from
Bhavya Panigrahi on Zacharias Troch in injury time, but Paradis hit it straight into the wall, and along with it, went his team's final hopes of a point.
