Tactics Exposed
Tellskär Like It Is
Tactician United were evenly-matched with Grilled, but were shaded by a hair as Grilled did enough to dump the Division Five challengers out of the Cup.
The Tacticians kept it tight and tidy early on, and signalled their intentions as Per Lindhin chopped
Aznan Noor Yadah down in the 16th minute. The Grilled speedster has become accustomed to this sort of treatment, and silently brushed himself off as Lindhin was summoned by the referee.
Grilled gave it as good as they got, and both
Daniel Tellskär and
Tim Hobson bemoaned efforts that were inches from going in. They would be vindicated later on, but for now all Hobson had to his name was a yellow card for talking back to the linesman.
Tactician defender Qin Tso-Yu would be replaced after Hobson caught him late, amidst loud calls from the crowd for the Englishman to be sent off, thankfully disregarded by the referee. Hobson's miss in the 35th minute was heartily cheered by the home support, who were again baying for blood when
Chai Yew-Hoe collided with Luo Hhut and forced Tactician into their second substitution before half-time.
The home team then struck completely out of the blue from the restart, as Mah Kyu-Hook's change of pace down the left took him past Siu-Cheung, and Song Woon-Wing flew in to head past the unprepared Bao-Tam. It appeared as if the Tacticians were living up to their name, as they prepared to defend their lead to the bitter end.
This however was the wrong move, as Grilled poured forward in numbers. Chen's odds-on effort was courageously taken in the chest by Gan Yuan-Pin, but nobody could stop
Tim Hobson from arrowing an inch-perfect shot to the bottom corner in the 67th minute.
With their work undone, the Tacticians tried to regain the initiative, but fell behind when
Daniel Tellskär chipped home in the 75th. It was then the Birds' turn to play keep-away, which they successfully did, though in the process having Chen booked and Magnusson sent off.
