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Random Curiosity FC went top of the S-League with their home win against Grilled Birds today, in a season chock-full of unexpected twists. Having already edged the reverse fixture at The Cooking Pot, Random Curiosity FC would enter the game as favourites, on the back of three straight league wins. They would not disappoint their home support as they crested to a fourth, as they honestly outplayed the visiting Birds through and through.
Grilled might have seen RFC off last Sunday, but their away record for this season was far from ideal, with their only such victory a barely-there affair against the capitulated Crypto Moon. Then again, they were not entirely without reason for some optimism;
Vikram Mudaliar would be back, and that after a promising midweek friendly warm-up, with only Bilal remaining unavailable amongst probable starters. Curiosity were not cowed, however, as they transitioned to a 3-5-2, from the 4-4-2 used to good effect at The Pot, earlier in the season.
That had Lebanese legend Ziad Zahreddine dropping back to midfield, with Dutchman Remmelt Stips deployed as an out-and-out striker, lining up directly opposing
Douglas Carapaica. The match began with a dazzling dribble by Lars Eng, but what followed would be half an hour of comparative dross, as the sides struggled to get in a groove. A switch was seemingly flipped at that point, as the hosts began to move it around Grilled's penalty area with a refound fluency. Han De Yeng embarassed
Salah Kamel to clip it just beyond
Jānis Salmiņš' far post, which however also birthed Grilled's first big opportunity, as
Kalki Parvathaneni came up the left side.
Chan Ze Han connected with the low cross nipping in ahead of Ty Nakamura, but couldn't get quite enough behind it.
Mateusz Wentowski would try to get the game paused as Nakamura rolled about having pulled something in stretching for the block, but the Curiosity defender must soon have been thanking his lucky stars that the linesman had ignored his appeal then. The ball would be sent long to Eng on the right side, with
Shekar Kannan missing the intercepting header by a hair's breadth. In any case, that meant all too much space for the Curiosity Number Seven to work with, and his cross to the middle of the box was placed too well for Icelandic midfielder Ingvi Grétarsson to waste. 1-0.
The match appeared to be making up for its previous lack of activity, as all the slow, careful prodding of before was cast to the winds. Grilled were at it again in the 38th minute, which saw Nicola Paladino arch backwards to palm
Chu Xin Lee's incredible dipping effort away from goal. There wouldn't be time for a replay as Stips tested Salmiņš at the other end with the Birds' backline caught napping, but it would be Grilled to have the last laugh from this exchange; the home side had completely lost their cohesion in pressing that counter, and
Salah Kamel would not let them get away with it, as he ran through to tie it up with an expert finish.
That was hardly the end of the drama for the first half either, and either of Curiosity or Grilled might well have entered the tunnel ahead. Wentowski would have his own go as he broke from defence upon a long stretch of possession for Curiosity, and his monster of a right foot would batter it against the crossbar from some twenty yards out. As before, this would grant the Birds openings that would otherwise not have been there, but this would turn out to be
Chan Ze Han's off-day, as he tried to draw Paladino out, only to be thoroughly read by the opposition goalkeeper.
It would be a slow restart to the game, but it at least didn't take as long for the reheating to happen. Stips had been a difficult customer for Douglas all day, and his moment would finally arrive in the 59th minute, on a bouncing pass curled invitingly to his outside by Grétarsson. Douglas looked to have it covered, but a brilliantly-timed shoulder bump from Stips would throw the defender off, for just long enough for him to get in a step ahead. That was all that was needed, for Stips to bring it across to the inside, and drag it back across to the near corner.
Even the Grilled fans in attendance would have to admit that was as fine a display of the striking arts as they were likely to witness in a game, but
Hilal Bakhtiar did not have the luxury of such impartial appreciation, and would throw
Heng Dong Chu on for Kalki to try and get his team back up to speed. This actually didn't go too badly as Chu would nick it slightly wide on the next advance, and five minutes later, some creative thinking by
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud after dropping deep would see
Vikram Mudaliar with a window of opportunity. The Number Nine took it, and Paladino would for once be a non-entity, as the strike was too perfectly placed over him.
The success of his first substitution would see Bakhtiar put
Teo Chuan Yong for
Moey Xin Seng yet, though Moey had frankly been one of Grilled's rainmakers before that. Still, it could not be denied that the veteran was slowing somewhat, and he allowed himself a rueful smile as he passed the armband on to
Chan Ze Han. The Birds were actually looking the likelier to steal it at this point, and a burst of acceleration from Heng would see Albanian international winger Ujkan Kurmaku booked for a desultory saving tackle.
That would ironically be the genesis of Curiosity seizing the lead for good, though, as the Birds committed the same error as their foes had done several times already in the game. Their midfield was nowhere to be found when Chu tried and failed to force it by himself after the initial free-kick was repelled, and there were just too many attackers, for Grilled's defenders to cover. In the end, it was Wentowski to score, as he made himself available following a dash out from the back.
It was then Michelangelo Del Riccio's turn to make a change towards shoring up his side, and Zahreddine would be the player sacrificed, with experienced Scottish backup Louie Knight coming on. That would work well enough, and the hosts would bag another in injury time with the Birds throwing everything towards trying to secure an equalizer, thanks to Ang Sze Tze's potency from the side.
