Something With Control
Thach On Fire
The Birds would accept Italian VI.663 club Pest Control's request for a friendly after a protracted delay, and ran out 5-2 winners at The Cooking Pot in an exhibition that was well worth the entrance fee for the some 2,500 fans that turned up. While usual suspect
Chan Ze Han scored twice, the star of the day had to be
Chad Thach, as he carried his barnstorming form for the Singapore national youth team, over to club duties.
Thach had just returned to the squad after starting his third U-20 game in national colours against Haiti, but given that he had scored twice in a 3-3 draw, nothing was going to keep him from flaring off his residual energy here. Vincenzo Centrella might have slipped the opener past
Dimitris Germanakos after
Bhavya Panigrahi had stepped up too early, but the local support forgot all about that once
Chad Thach hit it hard against Giovanbattista Bodda's flank, to have the wicked deflection take it past Matteo Zagato at the other end in the eleventh minute.
That was hardly the end of Thach's contributions, and he would apply himself diligently to defensive duties too. Centrella was the main target of his attentions after scoring, and would largely be removed from the conversation for long stretches, even after Thach's yellow for too much shirt-tugging in the 20th minute. The visitors would lose it and commit their own foul in short order, however, and
Chan Ze Han then pegged the free-kick straight to the top left corner for 2-1.
Pest Control's Vincenzo Rigoni appeared a little confused in the 33rd minute, as he volleyed a Birds cross right into the roof of his own net, after they were pressed on the back foot for some minutes. Goalie Matteo Zagato would do much better against
Aw Keng Chuan in comparison, as the Grilled man first saw a close-up effort come back to him off the upright, before Zagato pounced to knock the second attempt to safety.
Kalki and Panigrahi would replace Moey and Webb for the second half on the Birds' end, and the 39 year-old Kalki had an ageless quality about him, as he drew on his considerable experience to snag a fourth. Chan left the free-kick for Panigrahi for once, and the defender sought
Moey Xin Seng out, only for Sandro Ravani to insert himself in the way. Kalki saw that coming, fortunately, and stabbed it into the net before anyone could react.
It would be back to Chan to go it himself in the 72nd minute, but Matteo Zagato flew across to punch it aside this time.
Gandhik Chitre's entrance for
Bilal Mohammad Harun took place as Pest Control won their own free-kick a few years outside Grilled's penalty area, and they proved no less tricky than the Birds in such situations. Pietro Antonio Girardi delivered it with great delicacy to Vincenzo Rigoni, who had freed himself for a free shot from eight yards. That was 4-2, then.
Ezio Sica could have made it a lot more interesting had he made full use of Panigrahi's slip-up on defence, but wound up overrunning the ball as Germanakos gathered. It was then
Chan Ze Han to round off the scoring in time added on, as he adjusted his sights from his previous attempt.