Living Up To Names
Takahashi Struts
This reunion with the former Champloo FC in II.4 would be nearly forty seasons in the making, and it would end with Grilled Birds not only failing to make any headway, but moreover a comprehensive seven-fold wipeout by the current CE Sindiket 07. The Pulau Ubin club's neighbourhood favourites - Adam Abd El Hamid and Malachi Takahashi - might be getting slightly long in the tooth, but they would prove to be lethal enough, when backed up by a blossoming expat midfield.
Worse, the Birds would not have
Aw Keng Chuan available to try and provide cover, which had academy lads
Lim An Keng and
Chia Kwang Tse start together, for perhaps the first time in their professional career. This would be boys against men, unfortunately, as they quickly discovered that attempting to cow their opponents into - if not submission, at least circumspection - was not going to happen. The hosts would coolly fend off the callow Birds' charge and send it out to the left for Paul Baumont, who needed just a timely return pass to sling it past goalkeeper for the day
Cameron Law.
Law had been given his chance in the league with
Manuel Vadalà reportedly unusually off-colour in training, but the 22 year-old backup would soon find this a poisoned chalice; his defence would be nowhere to be found when Baumont delivered a corner in the 13th minute, although some would have argued that he should have challenged big Polish centreforward Hilary Grych for it.
Chad Thach would be reduced to time-wasting before the first half-hour was done, with there being little indication that Grilled could turn this around.
It would be four-nil for Sindiket by half-time, in fact. Baumount found his matchup against the undisciplined
Enrique Baena very much to his taste, and a free run would result in Hennes Silverman grabbing the third in the 35th, with fears that Chia had sustained a concession, in trying to defend that header. Chia would turn out okay, but the hosts would put themselves another up when he was still recovering by the sideline, with former Welsh youth international Ceri Shaw slipping past
Gilbert Webb for an easy poach.
There was not very much that
Tian Yonghang could do here, as he examined his bench, though Sindiket would cool their heels somewhat after Takahashi upped the score to 5-0 in the 51st minute, having out-elbowed his markers on a free-kick. It would then be glorified keep-away until about the 82nd minute, when
Bhavya Panigrahi found himself entirely beaten by Takahashi's switch of pace. He threw himself into a tackle automatically, but it was way too late, and German referee Michael Elstal could only reach for the red card.
At least that was outside the box, and Law would claim the overhit free-kick, in a small win for the goalie. Grilled's chances had been few and far between, with their forwards having long doubled up in midfield, and the best of those was perhaps Webb's effort four minutes from time. Chan had looked for it on the edge of the box, and the Scotsman would try for the bottom left corner, with Batrić Rabrenović having perhaps set his wall up too optimistically. Webb got the shot on too, but the Sindiket custodian would make up for his early misjudgment, by getting across to palm it around the post.
The Birds were not quite mentally present after that, and the hosts would take the opportunity to add to their goal difference, with late seconds by Baumont and Takahashi.
Atang Mangoye and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul would do plenty of chasing in the short minutes they were on, but it meant nothing in the end.