Ghosts Of The Past
Mak Up For It
Phantasm Hotspurs had to be considered as the title favourites, having just come down from Division Two, and with the Singapore Consolation Cup as a keepsake - but Grilled Birds weren't about to concede without a fight, not at home at least. It wasn't easy with the visitors tailoring a counterattacking game off the back of a sturdy 4-5-1, which brought target man Mak Hao Heng two goals. The Birds overcame that, a Hotspurs lead and a man disadvantage to triumph eventually, which had the supporters quite delighted indeed.
Having yet to concede in their first three fixtures, including a 3-0 shutout of Controlar last Sunday, most had Yee Tse Tong's side as the ones to beat. Lee Kong Siong would sweep behind a formidable backline containing the likes of former national youth fullback Kwek Rong Wei, who was hardly that much of a standout in Yee's fully-local team. This match might be the last that 22 year-old goalkeeper Maxx Wei will play in Hotspurs colours, but that was nothing suggesting he would be at anything less than his best, whether or not a suitor turns up with the requested S$17 million.
The Birds would not change much, with the major adjustments being made in attack, beginning with
Federico Parada starting at left wing, opposite from
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan. This unmistakeably-attacking arrangement had Polish striker
Orest Tokarz debut at the first opportunity too, freeing
Chan Ze Han to drop deeper in his best role, between Parada and Tokarz;
Joe Reece would then take up the right forward position, and try to emulate Moey.
Grilled appeared to understand what was coming with the Hotspurs all but inviting them inside, which had Chan soon reminding his teammates to watch out for overextensions. What followed was a careful, relatively slow testing of the visitors' shape, punctuated by the odd madcap dash down the wings, usually stopped before too much damage was done. Ferzan tapped it past Kwek with a great piece of control just after 31 minutes to set
Lim An Keng up for an open shot from about twelve yards, but Lim bent it askew.
This amounted to high entertainment in an otherwise snooze-inducing half, which did gradually heat up towards its end. Phantasm Hotspurs were not willing to wait forever either, and they would have Muzaffar Fadhlurrahman make to break away, after a nerve-wracking exchange that had
Joe Reece bury it in the side-netting, and Chan then ping the upright on the volley off the corner.
Orest Tokarz had little choice but to take the midfielder out and receive a yellow card, not that he seemed to mind too much.
It got hot and serious quickly enough, to Grilled's detriment, as
Lim An Keng misfired again, after doing very well to slalom past two defenders to make his own shot. Hotspurs had the opening they were waiting for at that, and a high ball aimed at Sreenath Shasthri saw
Aw Keng Chuan miss his header entirely, and instead slam his forehead into Shasthri's face. The blood made it look worse than it probably was, and American referee Jim Morrison didn't wait to send Aw off immediately.
There would be an extended wait with just two minutes left on the clock, for Shasthri to get bandaged up, and Hotspurs would make the most of the remaining time by sending it long. There was no way that Mak Hao Heng should have kept possession of that, what with both Panigrahi and Hutter onto him, but he somehow took it down, then around the outside of the former.
Dimitris Germanakos set himself for the shot, but it was too good. 1-0.
That had to be a nail to the heart for Grilled, and Tian made to fix things as best as he could. Lim had messed up once too many, it seemed, with the midfielder making way for
Hwang Teck Fu - which happened to be a pretty inspired switch. Hwang's highly physical style would mesh well with Tokarz's as he bullied his way through the middle, which left
Damian Hutter in acres of space on the left in the 50th minute. Anyone really could have gotten to it, and it was Panigrahi to get the header in the end, with Wei apparently blocked off from contesting it.
Phantasm Hotspurs would protest the goal on those grounds, but a video review yielded insufficient evidence to disallow it. Play resumed with them still looking relatively unsteady defending down their right, which was not something a side wants when facing
Federico Parada. The cross was tailor-made for
Joe Reece, who executed a wonderful glancing header against Lee Kong Siong's pressure, to give Grilled the lead for the first time in this game.
With it being 2-1 in the 53rd minute, the Hotspurs would have to start taking the initiative more eagerly, and they weren't half bad at it actually. Fadhlurrahman's facility at pushing upfield and picking passes had the commentators questioning why Phantasm hadn't just come to The Cooking Pot with their usual balanced gameplan, and in any case they would find themselves in a two-on-two in the 64th minute, with Mak carrying and Amar Ikmal Awal in support. The obvious assist seemed on for a moment there, but Mak would instead go for the finish - to the same effect.
Hotspurs had the feel of winners now, with the body language of the Grilled players not looking good at all. This would take a leader to sort out, and thankfully the Birds had an exceptional one in
Chan Ze Han. The dependable captain came from behind to nick it off Fadhlurrahman in the 69th minute, and instantly sprayed it wide for Ferzan to chase. The favour would be returned in seconds, with Chan fending Cheong Leong Kiong off on the return, and dragging a stiff grounder just outside Maxx Wei's zone.
It was back to Phantasm to find an answer once more, but they were finally bereft of ideas, with the hosts not about to give them any more chances. Collective hassling despite being a man short would see Hotspurs not managing to put much together, and it would finish 3-2 for Grilled Birds.
