Under Lock And Key
Reece Pleased
The league title might have been too much to hope for, but it would still be a rocking conclusion to what was otherwise a quite enjoyable campaign, as the Birds slammed ten past a rudderless LAVINO QUAY. Welsh forward
Joe Reece made good use of the gimme to plunder his first professional hat-trick at twenty, a feat matched by the ageless
Chan Ze Han, who defended his Golden Boot with some swagger, having racked up a very remarkable 23 goals in these fourteen league matches.
The 0-6 wipeout last weekend against Phantasm Hotspurs banished any thought of unfairness from even the most-blinkered Birds fan, who had to admit that Hotspurs were the more worthy of promotion, after that. With no realistic hope of making up the goal difference even were Controlar to do a favour, Grilled were however not about to pass up trying, not against a team looking ready to ship a load of goals; LAVINO QUAY caretaker Teo Aik De was quite frank about his squad's limitations, as he lined them up in a 3-5-2 for the day.
Bhavya Panigrahi would be a rare starter at right defence for Grilled, who had Chan up front and centre, as to allow him the best possible service by Reece and
Teo Chuan Yong.
Tian Yonghang had signalled that he would pick his midfield on form, which had
Chad Thach,
Mohd Marzuki Khairul and
Lim An Keng make the cut, and
Chia Kwang Tse pushed out to left wing. Panigrahi lasted only 23 minutes before his left ankle acted up, but Chia and Reece had the Birds 2-0 up by then, with a minimum of fuss.
The central attacks continued with Grilled holding huge advantages over their opponents in just about every department, and it was mostly a question of how many they were going to get. Panigrahi's replacement
Aw Keng Chuan had been given instructions not to risk himself, but it wasn't as if he had to stretch himself much. There would soon be a loud roar in the 31st as
Chan Ze Han's awaited strike slipped past LAVINO goalie Tan Chee Hao, and
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan would feed Chan a second seven minutes on, before missing one himself.
Federico Parada was on for Ferzan at half-time as the Grilled extravaganza continued, though the refreshed visitors did mount some praiseworthy resistance for about fifteen minutes, via some busy tracking. That couldn't last, and
Orest Tokarz's entry for Teo would have him converting a fifth on his first touch, as Ang Hock Boon wasn't ready for the additional raw power on tap.
That punctured something in the plucky LAVINO volunteers, and it was
Joe Reece to follow up with the sixth a couple of minutes later, as Chia stumbled into trouble from the left, but found him as an outlet. Reece knew very much what he was going for as he flashed two fingers, then three at the cameras, but he had to wait for that; first, there was
Mohd Marzuki Khairul to find one of his own, as he looked left and then right while approaching the penalty box, before dribbing right through.
And then, the real celebrations. The crowd were waiting on Chan's hat-trick quite vocally, and there would be much anticipation as he ran at Wong Yeow Kum with the ball... before leaving the hapless midfielder on his behind, with a deft swerve of his hip - while the ball went the other way. The supporters hadn't forgotten about Reece either, and there would be a similar fanfare when he got on top of a defender, to nod a good Ferzan cross home in the 76th minute.
This was getting a bit too much for Ling Quanjing, who felt that Reece had unfairly climbed atop him, and he would boot the ball into the stands after referee Rodolfo DeJesús denied his appeal. Well, the home fans could afford to be forgiving in this instance, and even more so when
Mohd Marzuki Khairul made it ten with his circling around from the left, from the free-kick restart.
