Return Robbery
Chu's Despair
The Birds lost out on a third Emerald Challenger Cup - and their only realistic chance at silverware for the season - after they were defeated on penalties by league rivals Robbie Football Club. That said, it took something of a miracle for them to reach that stage in the first place, with Dennis Koenigsegg playing a complete blinder in denying the Birds' non-stop fusillade through much of the second half. At the end, though, it would be Koenigsegg to emerge triumphant in the duel of goalkeepers.
Notably, Robbie had yet to taste defeat in the three previous games in which Koenigsegg had kept goal for them, a statistic not lost on many pundits. They however had French winger Artur Forestier out on a calf concern, with Arturo Brettoni and Bonifacy Fiks playing through knocks. Grilled's long-term injury roster consisted of
Bilal Mohammad Harun, with captain
Moey Xin Seng left out, as
Hilal Bakhtiar went for his strongest wing offence consisting of
Shekar Kannan and
Heng Dong Chu, knowing what lay ahead.
There wasn't much mystery about this fixture by this point, with both RFC and Grilled Birds set in their ways - Robbie to hold, defend and test
Jānis Salmiņš from distance while exposing as little of themselves as possible, and the Birds to try and force the issue through aggressive direct attacking, as they have always done.
Chan Ze Han and
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud, two very similar players, would flank main striker
Vikram Mudaliar towards that aim - if not for long.
Preliminaries done with, it was down to business for the two clubs currently mired in fifth and sixth in the S-League. Mudaliar had been Grilled's biggest threat when the twain last met, as further hammered in by his goal, and he would rightly be given special attention by RFC skipper Brettoni. It was then Darius Linskens who made the biggest waves, as he somehow found the knack of penetrating Grilled's box. His fifth-minute attempt to find Patrik Gulyás would be cleared after some worry, and the real heartstopper would come when he seemed to have drawn Salmiņš aside, in the twentieth minute. Just as Linskens reared up for the final touch, however, the Latvian goalie would take both man and ball... and, according to referee Dimitar Tzonevski, fairly so.
That certainly put Salmiņš on the hit list of the Robbie supporters, who took to booing his every touch. They wouldn't take very long to find real satisfaction either, as fine work by Ally Chappell against
Heng Dong Chu on their right wing, earned them a corner in the 25th minute. This was another dimension in which they had been designed to shine, and so they did when Jonas Vrubelevsky rose highest above his Grilled markers, to score as he did a fortnight ago.
Grilled's jolt into overdrive at this development was perhaps overly predictable, but no more the easier to deal with for that. Having failed to make major inroads with Robbie on high alert before, this additional bit of urgency was enough to make all the difference.
Vikram Mudaliar provided the initial endeavour, and although his magnificent dribble was eventually stopped by Bonifacy Fiks' no less wonderful tackle, the ball fell perfectly for
Chan Ze Han to shoot just seven yards out with no defender in his way, which was about as much a foregone conclusion as Grilled could hope for.
The flow seemed to have changed over to the Birds at that equalizer, and they would win their own corner kick almost immediately, as Brettoni struggled to keep his men in line.
Bhavya Panigrahi flighted that one towards the far end of the six-yard box, which had both Heng and Kamel waiting, only for
Sølve Lunde to beat them to the punch, with a huge vertical leap. It was hard to begrudge him the attempt either, seeing as how the header missed the bottom corner by inches, with Koenigsegg immobile.
There was, however, a casualty from that set-piece, with Mudaliar left clutching his ankle as the box cleared; Robbie Football Club were more than willing to have the match paused for Mudaliar to have it looked at, what with them on the ropes, as the replays sought the culprit. In the end, it transpired to be a pure accident, with
Chan Ze Han having trod heavily on Mudaliar's right foot, as he backed up in preparation for any rebound.
A short conferral between Bakhtiar and Mudaliar would then occur on the sidelines as Grilled continued with ten men, which ended in
Moey Xin Seng coming on for the stricken Number Nine. Evidently, Mudaliar could have continued if really needed, but conceded that a fresh Moey would probably contribute more to the team. That must have been a tough decision for him to have made in a cup final, but one supposes that over twelve seasons as teammates would have built a certain level of mutual trust there.
Moey knew full well what he had been given, of course, but sentiment alone was hardly enough to break past this RFC backline. Having reset themselves both mentally and physically during the lull, Robbie would take it to half-time without further incident. It was then Linskens to provide the creativity once more afterwards, as he somehow knew exactly where and when Ally Chappell was breaking forward, facing the other direction in the 49th minute. The brilliant gambit paid off with Chappell afforded a one-on-one against
Jānis Salmiņš, and the English winger would bury it hard into the back of the net.
That had Grilled chasing the match once again, with their opponents fully prepared to shut everything down this time. There would be no unnecessary advances, no chances taken, as Robbie went into full-on keep-the-ball mode. Actually, it hardly worked as well as they expected, as their caution actually led to two mistakes in succession, deep in their own half.
Abd Hadi Taib Mazhud ran with the first of those in the 56th minute, and curled it deliberately to the far post. Dennis Koenigsegg made it to the shot just in time, however, and helped it around the upright.
RFC's response was to double down on the conservatism, but this passivity only placed them under yet greater pressure. Left with nowhere to turn, Linskens would be dispossessed whilst retreating by an energized
Salah Kamel, who wasted no time in sliding it on for
Chan Ze Han to chase. The acting skipper would expertly hold Jens Petur Jakobsen off on the sprint, and appeared to have sent it into the roof of the net... only for the strike to ricochet back off.
Replays would soon show that Koenigsegg had gotten the slightest of touches on that, but there was no time for either him or his RFC teammates to congratulate themselves then. The Birds were absolutely tearing at the door now, and only all the more with
Shekar Kannan replaced by
Kalki Parvathaneni in the 70th minute. Kalki would prove as much a tricky customer down the right as the left, and he would feed
Teo Chuan Yong just three minutes into his appearance. Koenigsegg materialized like a bad nightmare, sadly, to bail Robbie out from a hopeless-seeming situation once more.
And that appeared to be curtains for Grilled, as RFC's grinding style gained in effectiveness as the Birds tired. Having gone at full tilt through the second half, it was unavoidable that Grilled would stumble to an extent as the end neared, with the RFC midfielders milking the circumstances for all it was worth, by feigning advances only to recycle the ball once enough Grilled players had retreated. And they might have done it too, had
Chan Ze Han not slipped through in the first minute of injury time, and tapped it home.
Well, that sent the Grilled fans crazy, although hardly out of the ordinary for Chan. The commentators would instantly revert to script in recalling the Birds' epic comebacks against Bot Team FC in perhaps the most dramatic Singapore Cup final to date, but the remainder of this game would be rather more mundane. Panigrahi would be booked as he took no chances against Vrubelevsky making to shoot, and the half-hour of extra time saw the Birds too spent to pose a real threat, and Robbie still not eager to take risks. Pier Giuseppe Licciardello did send a free-kick close in the 95th minute, but that was it as far as actual chances went.
It was clear long before the final whistle that this would be settled by penalties, and Bakhtiar would spend his last substitute to bring
Gilbert Webb on for
Sølve Lunde. Remarkably, Koenigsegg would step up as the first kicker for RFC, and for good reason, as he lured Salmiņš the wrong way almost too easily.
Bhavya Panigrahi was not about to be intimidated as he stepped up against Koenigsegg next, though, and picked his spot low to the left.
Patrik Gulyás' finish was followed by Webb's ultra-confident shot to the top right corner, and Salmiņš would repay Koenigsegg's favour, after Ernesto Noguera had again sent him scrambling in the other direction. Now, there have been only too many recent shootouts at the top level that have seen one team or the other crack, but no signs of that were showing here - both RFC and Grilled appeared entirely prepared to go the distance.
Fiks and Teo converted on the fourth kicks, which had Jens Petur Jakobsen take RFC's fifth... which he placed just outside Salmiņš's diving reach. All the pressure was on
Chan Ze Han now, and one imagines he had been chosen for this do-or-die responsibility, as much for having already saved Grilled's bacon, as for his considerable coolness under fire; he could, at least, hardly be blamed for throwing it away, had he failed here.
Chan didn't seem to be thinking about such things at all, though, as he thrashed an unstoppable effort at the top right corner too. The assembly line would continue going, as more from both sides made the long walk, and returned with a smile on their faces.
Heng Dong Chu did his job as the Birds' ninth kicker, and Jonas Vrubelevsky's composure cracked for an instant as Salmiņš manufactured a delay - but he recovered well enough to slide it to the right post.
It was either
Chu Xin Lee or
Moey Xin Seng now, and the two old buddies would share a glance at the halfway line, which saw Moey move for the ball... only to find that Chu had gotten there first. Sadly, it would end in tears, as Chu sent Koenigsegg flying the wrong way after an awkward approach, but wound up clipping it barely wide of his intended mark.
