Oh Ze Misfortune
Wrench In The Works
Although the defeat at a Good Luck FC just descended from Division Two was not entirely unforeseen, the loss of
Chan Ze Han for half of the season would prove a far bigger headache for
Tian Yonghang, who must now figure out how to proceed without by far his best scoring asset. And it all began so brightly too, with Chan sending it home within six minutes, for what was already his third goal of the new campaign.
But before that, this was never going to be a walk in the park for the Birds, with Good Luck FC having been built on the back of linchpin national midfielders Teng Hui Heng and Mak Hao De, debatably still in the prime of their careers; forward Ong Ho Seng had been capped six times at junior level too, and had Wiktor Mielcarek not sold top prospects Ang Guang Ting and Yap Shi Ah off for a combined S$34 million last season, they might have stayed up with plenty of points to spare.
As it was, this remained a formidable Good Luck FC team with no glaring weaknesses, from a defence underwritten by veteran Bosnian sweeper Nenad Ðorđević and 34 year-old Italian custodian Manuele Colangiulo, to the strike partnership of Ong and Víctor Chapari. However, the Birds kept faith in their normal style - if with the inclusion of
Mohd Marzuki Khairul instead of an out-and-out winger on the right, to help protect midfield - leaving
Federico Parada to provide the wide runs on the left. Somehow, nobody picked Chan up sufficiently when he collected a stray pass just outside the box in the sixth minute, and an elegant glide took him past Ðorđević, before an equally-graceful loft straight into the far top corner of the net.
The home supporters could hardly protest too much at a goal of such beauty, and for a time, it seemed that Grilled Birds were going to take this one easily. Uncompromising midfield play first crocked fullback Anzelm Filipski, and substitute Sabri Sofian Amin would give away a free-kick two minutes after setting foot on the pitch, an unwise act given Chan's recent form. Few believed that Parada would have anything to do with it despite lining up the shot, and indeed it was left for Chan... who blasted it just wide.
The hosts ended up the more purposeful with possession when they had it, though, and Parada's adventurousness would be taken advantage of by Dutchman Mario Reijerkerk, who trusted that Hubert Thiessen would be able to deal with him in the 28th minute. That sprung Grilled's left totally open, and Chapari was first to get to Reijerkerk's centre, a foot ahead of
Dimitris Germanakos. The Greek goalie was again left flailing at thin air four minutes later as he couldn't get to Teng Hui Heng's clobbered shot, and
Chad Thach then spurned a great opportunity to equalize straight from the restart, as he hammered it onto the bar after given space to shoot.
Mielcarek had his players start playing more defensively, a rational choice from how the Birds had been shaky whenever caught in possession, but there would be few chances of note all the way to the 57th minute. All this passive waiting had started to bore the fans, and it was the visiting section that was the louder, when Grilled started moving it about the Good Luck FC box then.
Joe Reece tired of the build-up soon enough, and unleashed a scorcher without warning - which was sufficient to catch Colangiulo off-guard.
By all appearances, the match remained finely-balanced after an hour of fairly-energetic play, and it felt like the next goal could well tilt it decisively. Grilled were not eager to push it too hard, but discovered to their detriment that Good Luck FC were well capable of seizing the initiative too. Khairul Nazri Raihan had been contained by
Mohd Marzuki Khairul for most of the game, but it took but a single good low cross to claim an assist, as Chapari slid it home at the far post for 3-2, after 67 minutes.
Tian considered his options, and put
Bhavya Panigrahi on for
Aw Keng Chuan in the 70th minute, possibly hoping that Panigrahi's wealth of experience might plot a way through. Instead, sadly, it was Mak Hao De to break through for a fourth as the Birds struggled to organize themselves at the back. This was good enough for Mielcarek to withdraw Chapari for Hamzah Emir despite the Spaniard being on a hat-trick, certainly an unpopular swop for the fans. They would soon be distracted by a quick Birds raid at the other end, with Marzuki swinging it back to the head of the penalty area after running out of room, but
Chia Kwang Tse got too clever with his curled finish.
Disaster then befell the Grilled team, as
Chan Ze Han reared up suddenly halfway through manipulating the ball across Thiessen, in what could not have been a play for a foul. Indeed, Thiessen was sufficiently convinced to immediately kick the ball out for Chan to get looked at, and it didn't take long for the medics to wrap his left calf up in icepacks, before stretchering him off.
Orest Tokarz looked appropriately concerned as the stricken captain was ferried by him, but this sadly did not translate to concentration on the pitch, as he failed to spot
Lim An Keng's interception and through ball forward at him, from the restart.
Mielcarek would not hesitate to spend his final substitute to buy some time to give his squad a dressing-down at that lapse, with Mario Reijerkerk going off for Hafiz Hamdan Ayman; Mak Hao De responded with a rocking fifth goal as Hamzah Emir proved his worth making space in the middle, and there looked no way that Grilled could make the deficit up now.
Or so the crowd thought, but when Chia finally came good with a picture-perfect lob three minutes later, some uncertainty might have crept into their minds. A two goal cushion with six minutes left was still good enough for the home side to try and drag it out on the defensive, but they would then suffer a further setback, when Sabri Sofian Amin fell over the ball under heavy pressure from Tokarz in the 86th minute, only to be judged to have committed handball by French referee Romain Christine. No card was awarded, but
Bhavya Panigrahi now had a penalty kick to convert, and he did it with an almost-casual take rolled in at the left post.
The fourth official indicating five minutes of injury time then drew plenty of whistles from the impatient home support, who were mindful that the visitors were calling the shots now. Unfortunately, all that came to nothing as Good Luck FC defended in depth, and made no further mistakes.
