Broiled By Dragons
A Dosman Doozy
Grilled Birds' Singapore Cup run would end in the fourth round for this season, as they failed to get past a Singapore Red Dragons club currently battling in II.1. Truth be told,
Tian Yonghang might have given his team a better chance, had he inserted more first-choice players, but it was not as if the Dragons were going all out either. Star midfielder Csaba Báthory-Bozó and Roman Eloidze remained on the bench with local bruiser Peh Da Kong, for example, although national youth playmaker Parmeet Naik was in. The day belonged to Kazakh captain Berik Dosman, however, as his brace took them through.
With the clubs never having met before, there were perhaps a few more photos taken than usual as
Atang Mangoye exchanged pennants with Dosman before kick-off, with the latter winning the toss. The Dragons' 4-5-1 with Robert Veerma alone up top was clearly designed for safety first and foremost, however, and the first thirty-odd minutes would be a dreary grind by Grilled, who had
Phua Ming Xin raring to make things happen, but without the requisite understanding with his forward partners. Both
Gandhik Chitre and
Ibnou Balde clearly tried to accommodate the newcomer, but they were just not on the same wavelength yet.
Enrique Baena and
Paulino Trindade had been drawn into bolstering the centre by then, which was beginning to creak as the Dragons started applying their considerable force to the plane. Radu Burcică shocked not a few spectators as he took off like a getaway vehicle from a standstill in the 35th, which had
Mohd Marzuki Khairul rooted to the spot, and Mangoye gasping to catch up. Burcică ended up outrunning his own feet as well, sadly for the Dragons fans, as he struggled to sort them out sufficiently to take the shot.
The Dragons were dominating as the first half neared its conclusion, though, and Veerma's non-stop movement at this point would soon pay its dividends, as he appeared on the left as if from nowhere, on cue to meet Deryll Sewgolam's bouncing forward pass, with a tremendous half-volley.
Dimitris Germanakos was not too far from making contact then, but was nowhere near on the penalty given the very next minute for some desperate shirt-tugging by Mangoye in the box. Berik Dosman took his time placing the kick, before hammering it straight down the middle, with Germanakos having gone to the right already.
This was not the end to the half that Tian had envisaged, and few of the Birds players dared to meet his eyes, as they came off. It was obvious that chances would be at a real premium, with the Dragons having significantly reduced incentive to expose themselves, but this counterintuitively allowed Grilled to build a rhythm of sorts, slowly through the next period. After a particularly long spell of possession, a momentary loss of concentration by Adem Kočo allowed a quite-interceptable through ball by in the 60th minute, and
Gandhik Chitre would come away with it after Phua had been barreled over. Slovakian referee Ondrej Válkovec seemed to be briefly considering a second penalty, but it was moot with Chitre firing neatly past Georgi Kirov.
The downtown club were not able to turn the tide despite Danish boss Lars Korsholm trying to order them back into shape, and
Hwang Teck Fu would begin showing his true colours as the going got tough; Hwang's constant laying into Parmeet Naik should have had a few wondering as to which was the international there, and a barely-legal bump and layoff to
Paulino Trindade, would lead to Grilled's much-anticipated equalizer.
Aw Keng Chuan had been busy sitting back for most of the game, but with elimination on the line, he had ranged forward calling for it - and absolute put his laces through the ball then.
It was two-all with fourteen minutes remaining, and Grilled undeniably in the ascendancy to the neutrals present. They were moving the Dragons at will then, and with Phua and fellows throwing themselves about, it seemed a matter of time before they found the winner. Dosman had other ideas, however, and on a rare overlap in the 80th, he would catch Germanakos straying just a bit too far off his line, with a superlative drive to the far top corner of goal. Tian's remaining recource was to throw
Kalki Parvathaneni on for Balde in the dying minutes and pray for a miracle, which was not forthcoming.