Stylin' On
Kemper Si
The result was never in doubt with SingaStyle having moved on from their 7-0 hiding of the Birds in II.4 four seasons back, to an S-League title and a Singapore Cup since. What gave the Grilled support some pride was how their new crop of youngsters had more than held their own in midfield, or at least according to the possession stats. It was quite another matter holding their nerve in the box, unfortunately, which sold the Birds short as they yielded two quite avoidable penalties, well into the second half.
Then again, Grilled had been performing way above expectations before that, even if SingaStyle's young French player-coach Daniel Salaun had given some of his stars an off day. This was most evident on the wings, where local backup Poh Jian Tse and veteran U.S. fullback Danny Cole were deployed, with Mohd Sulaimi Mohd Idhlan also a less-than-convincing replacement for Umberto Benveniste in the heart of midfield. National star Neo Ting Feng and Romanian ex-international Dragoş Cioncan were more than most central three could handle on their own, however, and Tomas Cosio's unbridled physicality was something that
Atang Mangoye was ill-equipped to deal with by himself.
It was actually the reigning national cup holders who were the more pressed for the first twenty minutes or so, as the Birds' youngsters strutted their stuff fearlessly underneath the blazing sun at Singapore Arena;
Mohd Marzuki Khairul held it all together as they worked their way to some sixty percent of possession consistently, and several brave dribbles about the fifth minute had
Chia Kwang Tse test former Ivory Coast international goalie Arthur Asseke, if not too severely. Mohd Sulaimi would soon be book trying to contain Marzuki, and Asseke was again called to duty urgently in the 19th minute, as he tipped over an unexpected header on the run by
Gandhik Chitre on another lightning raid.
That was about as long as the Birds could take their turbocharged rhythm before needing a breather, however, and SingaStyle had the killer instinct to take their chances when they presented themselves. Cioncan's cautious advance up the left in the 23rd minute didn't seem dangerous at first, but an abrupt turn of pace saw him take
Damian Hutter on a roundabout run. The ball would be left with Sieb Kempers with barely anyone noticing sometime through that madcap dash, and the Dutch rightback would scamper inside and twist it past
Manuel Vadalà.
Grilled were hardly done, it had to be said, and gained an early second wind in resuming their direct approach against SingaStyle, which had been more effective than one might have thought. There was simply no space when
Hwang Teck Fu dealt it to the opposite wing 29 minutes in, though, and
Enrique Baena did not disappoint with a pretty tempting cross, designed to lure Asseke out. While the goalkeeper didn't fall for the bait, it did get to
Mohd Marzuki Khairul, who however could not get it under control before it got hacked aside by the watchful Pang Dunren.
Chan Ze Han appeared to want to come back on for the second half, but a short discussion with
Tian Yonghang saw the Grilled captain yield to the longer-term view of his boss, and he would step aside for
Mohsen El Khateeb to come in. It wasn't that Chan had been especially productive earlier on with SingaStyle well aware of the threat he posed, and the S-League club would generally find multiple bodies to put on him, whenever he called for the ball.
Orest Tokarz would also be off, for
Ibnou Balde.
This had Grilled's aura up front sadly reduced from its already not overly impressive state, which when coupled with a more adventurous SingaStyle, immediately spelt big trouble for them. Cioncan was attracting much of the action as he kept drifting wide right, which Hwang and Trindade were largely helpless to answer. Rosendo Abanos had only to be there for Cioncan to play the ball off in the 53rd minute, to open it all up for their second goal.
Amazingly, the Birds still gave the impression of possibly clawing it back to a draw at this point, but they then blew their admittedly miniscule odds, with a couple of defensive mixups - that were gleefully picked on by the experienced SingaStyle forwards. Cosio had zero qualms in playing
Bhavya Panigrahi's tap on his knee in the 66th minute up, and Kempers blasted the penalty down the line. It was then a hat-trick for the Dutchman, as he waited for Vadalà to move after Abanos went down on contact with
Chia Kwang Tse from the back, a few minutes later.
