No Holds Barred
Birds On Brink
It was a day of no defence, as Grilled Birds and -= Manchester United =- garnered a total of twelve goals between them at The Cooking Pot - a veritable feast in which the visitors won out. At least it was far less embarassing than going 0-4 down after 24 minutes might have suggested for Grilled, and the over 84,000 that paid to show up also suggested that they had kept a lot of fans, even if they might yet go down this season.
Long since out of the title equation, it had to be a bitter letdown for both clubs - the Birds, who had won the last two, and United, who had been yearning to break into the top three, after having finished fourth in their previous two S-League runs. United did have a Ruby Challenger Cup to sate any pains, which they lifted after scoring six goals in each of the quarters, semis and final - a sure testament to their ability to turn it on. Sure they might have been indifferent in league play, but a 3-3 home draw in the reverse fixture suggested that Grilled were not about to have it easy today.
There were a few names changes for United, with Beau Gilmont and Viktor Saunov having left the club in mid-season, and German forward Horst Friedrich Dalen having being benched in a straight swap for Fredrik Solheim today. Przemysław Kuziemski had arguably strengthened those positions, with Mirko Pogliaghi a S$7.4 million rated replacement in midfield, and Darrell Powell a former New Zealand youth international, and still close to his peak at 33 years.
Any such theory-crafting would be best decided on the pitch for real, and it would be Pogliaghi to shake The Pot to its foundations, soon enough. How much of Grilled's slump was due to
Bilal Mohammad Harun's untimely long-term injury may never be known to satisfaction, but it is likely safe to assert that none of Teo, Chu, Kamel or anyone else, has proven a capable all-round replacement, for all the qualities that Bilal possessed. His oft-underrated defensive tenacity was missing for one in the fifth minute, as Dejan Skrt was allowed through to win a corner. From that, Marcelino Fiore got a slight touch on it, which was enough for Ejler Haugaard to bury it at the opposite post.
That brought a defiant response from the home stands, who would however be brutally silenced over the next twenty minutes. The Birds soon lost themselves in trying to force the offensive, and appeared to forget how to play, when deprived of the ball. Nobody was on Pogliaghi when a deep cross by Sim Chin Chi found him in the 12th minute, and
Jānis Salmiņš was outraged at himself for not getting something on the volley, excellent as it was. It didn't take three minutes for the mistake to be repeated, sadly, and Jahid Abdul Rahman fed Pogliaghi for 3-0 only too easily.
The home fans were in a rut by now, but it could yet get worse, and it did. Solheim got a foot in against countryman
Sølve Lunde in the 24th minute, and although it certainly didn't seem like he meant what he did, the ball would arc neatly over a despairing Salmiņš, for the visitors' fourth. The commentators were busy checking if this was a home record against the Birds, when they finally hit back. United were no turtlers at least, and
Kalki Parvathaneni's standard scoot-and-shoot from the left worked again, for 1-4.
Alas, Grilled had yet to learn their lesson, but being three goals down, they hardly had the luxury of waiting for things to happen now. Kalki would seize upon a poor throw out to a distracted Aleixo Cruzul a few minutes after his goal, but that was a difficult steal to make, and he couldn't get back on the ball before Izydor Tovtuk cleaned up his own mistake. United would instead go 5-1 up before half-time, as Marcelino Fiore walked it in from Marguet's delectable through pass.
Hilal Bakhtiar must surely have been feeling the heat, with much of the stadium calling for his head as the dejected Grilled players filed back into the tunnel at half-time - though
Moey Xin Seng would try to redirect some of the blame. What was true was that the Birds would be a changed team after the break, and finally looked like the home team, in passing the ball about with some arrogance. This was very much unlike the plain bluster that the home faithful had to sit through in the first half, and United were soon metaphorically forced to the walls.
All that pressure would take its time to tell, and Grilled's first break would come in the 57th minute, when Sim Chin Chi allowed the ball to go out for a corner, after it came off him on
Chan Ze Han's attempt to get past. This turned out to be a poor decision, as
Bhavya Panigrahi put in a good one to the near post area, and
Salah Kamel got in ahead of Marguet, to meet it with a bullet header that bulged the back of the net.
A comeback appear on as Grilled then further reduced just two minutes later, with
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud combining well with Kalki down the left side, to nick it past Tovtuk for 3-5. Granted, Abd Hadi had been pretty quiet otherwise, and United would start to gather themselves again, after this warning. There would be much banging at the door by
Chan Ze Han in particular, but it was instead United to douse the flames as they had at the end of the previous half, with Solheim again eluding Lunde for just long enough to score in the 67th.
That would be the end of the day for the Birds' Norwegian centreback, as Bakhtiar sprung for
Douglas Carapaica to replace him. Likewise for Kalki, who had been one of the top threats for Grilled, but who was also quite clearly going off the boil;
Heng Dong Chu would take over, and go on to make quite a few good dribbles past Sim, but unfortunately little came of those.
The minutes continued ticking away with nary a respite for United, but also no reward for Grilled, who remained a whole three goals behind.
Chu Xin Lee kept right on trucking, and near ran himself into the ground despite it being likely a lost cause, but didn't do himself any favours by shooting straight at Tovtuk with three minutes remaining, when it seemed easier to score. The game would be paused afterwards for Powell to have his left thigh looked at after overextending it in trying to tackle, and Kuziemski took no chances by subbing him off for Radim Chvátal. It was also Chu's last participation, as Bakhtiar got Teo in to close.
There were quite a number of empty seats as United then saw themselves ahead by four again, as Spanish defender Aleixo Cruzul forced Salmiņš into a superb one-handed stop from a corner kick header, only for Pierre-Étienne Marguet to slot the loose ball home. That had to be it for Grilled, if not already, but
Moey Xin Seng was fighting to the last regardless. He ran past all comers with an agility that belied his 36 years as Heng went for the jugular from the kick-off, and went as far as to retrieve the ball straightaway, and call for a quick restart.
And well he might have, as Moey then pulled another one back in injury time, which had a scattering of the United fans touched enough to applaud his spirit. They could well afford to, however, with the points being theirs here.
