Tigers Tap Out
Caught In Webb
Grilled Birds had to dig deep to bump II.3 club Marina Tigers FAS in the second round of the Singapore Cup, with their golden oldies doing the honours as the new generation found themselves entirely smothered by the Tigers' mobile defence. Unlike most of Grilled's opponents, Marina Tigers blended an offensive orientation with a very active retreat and press whenever they lost the ball, which was enough to shut the forwards out. This did not extend to set pieces, at least, which was how the Birds took it eventually.
The Tigers had steamrolled Kan Do It 9-0 in their Cup introduction, before getting held to a two-all draw by the visiting Cantonat FC in the league, which however cost Cantonat no fewer than three of their players - Edgar Hubert, Petr Voroshilov and former local youth international Mohd Ariffin Arafat. They wouldn't skimp too much on their stars for this fixture, with midfield general Aleksander Kuznowicz starting, along with ex-Japanese international Kohei Matsumoto at fullback. Chow Eng Cheng's XI had the experience advantage over Grilled, to say the least, and it showed with some Birds such as Parada and Balde having barely known each other.
With
Aw Keng Chuan anchoring midfield,
Chad Thach and
Lim An Keng were allowed freedom to roam, but to little effect as the visitors cut out their passing lanes with an alarming facility. Thach would be baited into a late tackle by French midfielder Thomas Delavault in the 20th minute, but this would ironically develop into a penalty for the Birds, after Marina Tigers made an ill-advised backpass that had Kuznowicz haul
Teo Chuan Yong down in a panic.
Bhavya Panigrahi set his foot badly, unfortunately, and it didn't have enough power to take it past Manuel Maggipinto, who had wisely waited.
The miss had the 39 year-old Panigrahi berating himself, but it would take less than five minutes before he provided due compensation. The Birds were still attacking at a good clip, if not quite threatening Maggipinto, and Aw would settle for the free-kick after running into a crowd at the head of the box. Teo would discuss it for a bit with Panigrahi, but it would be the defender to curl it on the initial approach - and drop it over the wall beautifully.
One-nil was a precarious lead with the Tigers giving the impression of having plenty in reserve, and after
Kalki Parvathaneni replaced Teo at half-time, they provided a smal ltaste of that with a deliberate advance up the right. Joes Wolbers was majestically unhurried as he dragged
Enrique Baena with him along the touchline, before somehow finding an exact low cross towards the encroaching Delavault. It was taken on the fly, only to skip just wide of
Dimitris Germanakos' far post.
There was not too much being created at the other end either, but
Ibnou Balde got onto the end of one of the successes in the 51st minute, with
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan beginning to get the hang of former Swedish international David Sahllund on that side. Ferzan would have to work to get the foot of space he needed to deliver, and Balde did his part by nicking in front of the defender, to catch the ball early. The volley remained awkward, unfortunately, and he got too much underneath it.
Panigrahi would then see his number come up right before the hour mark for
Gilbert Webb, and as fortune would have it, the relevant stoppage would be for
Federico Parada getting wiped out by Maggipinto, as he charged down a long ball far faster than most thought possible. Finnish referee Anssi Paanala spared Maggipinto a booking, but could hardly deny a second spot kick, and this time Webb made it look easy with a calm stroke to the left bottom corner.
The Tigers could wait no longer, but they would first have to survive a big scare, as Ferzan cut loose with a knuckleball from the right edge of the penalty area, that Maggipinto clamoured to slap aside with some difficulty. That was the break that they were seeking, as it turned out, with Grilled's right flank now horribly exposed. Wolbers was last in line as Sahllund dragged it across the goalmouth, but that was enough for 2-1.
It was now a contest of whether Grilled could disrupt the Tigers sufficiently to prevent them from finding an equalizer before regular time was up, and to this end none of the Birds' players spared the running;
Lim An Keng was particularly meticulous in his cleaving to free runners, which got him an appreciative thumbs-up from Aw.
Chan Ze Han would take over from Kalki five minutes from the end, and helped the Birds over the line.