Jeep Made Easy
Yee Waits It Out
31 year-old
Yee Jian Hui had bided his time patiently in Grilled's extended squad - for fourteen years, to be exact - and he would score his first start in ten years, since Roseburn Rangers in Season 71. As then, Yee would find the net too, twice in the first half alone, in fact. While amateurs jeepsteep were perhaps not the stiffest of competition, this still made quite the return for the utility man.
And he should have more such opportunities coming, what with Abd Hadi having departed for Italy, which leaves just
Chan Ze Han and
Moey Xin Seng as designated forwards, what with
Teo Chuan Yong and
Bilal Mohammad Harun being pushed back into defence mostly, from the Birds' open training sessions. Yee would chip goalkeeper and career first responder Lai Nie Xin in but the third minute, and it would have gone in were the lob a foot shorter. Teo would have his own go a couple of minutes later, but Lai met his powerful right-footer solidly; it helped that it was hit so close to him too.
It was difficult to see the intrepid Ang Mo Kio part-timers holding out for much longer, though, even with captain and rightback Lim Kian Tze running a tight ship. Their consistency of quality in all positions was fairly laudable, while the ceiling on that quality was not. Their 4-4-2 also left room for few tricks against this Birds side, which had Moey and Teo attacking too, after all, and the latter would feed Yee with a well-weighted pass from the left, which just begged for the right finish. It was so, and it would be 1-0 in the 19th.
Yee was simply flying at this moment, and he would add a second two minutes later, via much the same route. Teo and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul were more than what Lim could handle together, and it would be the Number Three to try the high cross this time. Chow Ying Keng backtracked with Chau Liang Li deciding to stick to
Moey Xin Seng, but not enough to contest Yee's technically-immaculate jump for the header, as the ball came down.
That would have Yee rueing missing maybe the best chance in his career thus far for a hat-trick, as he was replaced by
Prokop Mottl - to the objection of many of Grilled's travelling supporters - for the next half. In Tian's defence, Yee had certainly faded abruptly after his second goal, even getting in Moey's way as the skipper made to score, and
Prokop Mottl would not disappoint after coming on either, alongside
Lim An Keng for
Chia Kwang Tse.
The first salvo would be fired by
Aw Keng Chuan, though, as the 20 year-old continued bedding into his central midfield role, very comfortably indeed. Aw had struck up a fair understanding with
Chad Thach and Chia through the first forty-five minutes, while retaining a good sense of when to advance himself, when circumstances warranted it. This would be the case right after the restart, as
Mohd Marzuki Khairul broke through on the inside. This simply screamed for prompt support, and Aw offered a simultaneous run, which would draw Marzuki's slide-rule pass in response, for an easy finish. 3-0.
Grilled seemed to have their players taking turns to get inspired, from how Aw became their main man for the next twenty minutes or so. With jeepsteep penned in their own half by now, he would not have many defensive duties to look after, and could give freer rein to his more offensive side.
Moey Xin Seng found him out with a splendid lob into the box in the 66th minute, having carried the ball outside in search of space, but Lai was up to it with a no less outstanding stop.
It would be another matter for
Lau Chu Soon, whose stay at Grilled has thus far been undistinguished, but there was little against him when he came off for
Gilbert Webb with twenty minutes to go. That was perhaps due as much to his physical advantages over Chinese teacher expat Zhuang Ze Ze, however, as any actual defensive nous. This happened to be
Prokop Mottl's signal to turn it on at the other end, and the Czech forward would record his first official goal since against frunzelite three seasons ago, and then follow up with only his second brace for the club, the first coming against a declining Be Champions FC eleven years past.
Moey Xin Seng then looked to carry his exceptional scoring form over from the previous campaign, but all his efforts were for naught, with his best attempt - a fierce grounder in the 81st minute after turning his marker - clawed aside by Lai Nie Xin. The brave jeepsteep goalie would then sustain a blow to his abdomen in challenging an injury-time cross, but no-one could claim that he hadn't done all he could today.
