Misses At Mayuyu
Intrepid Inczédi
There would be no repeat of the 2-3 upset that the Birds sustained in Woodlands earlier in the season, which should be more than enough for Grilled despite their almost comedical finishing through much of the second half. In the end, five goals would be fair recompense for the over 78,000 that had arrived at The Cooking Pot, which was by far its biggest attendance of the season.
The mass return of the fans might be to a large extent due to the imbroglio over the club's sanctioning finally getting cleared up, and with Grilled having reinforced themselves substantially since that early-season loss, expectations had been increased in tandem - and duly fulfilled. There was no longer a question of whether they would sufficiently dominate possession, not with
Gústav Thoroddsen present, and the wingers going narrow. Mayuyu AKB48 would go with the same 4-4-2 that had carried them to victory two months ago, but it was left wanting today.
With the seasonal rain having held off, ground conditions were near-optimal for Grilled's passing strategy, which soon made inroads on the visitors. Gaps that had not been taken advantage of in the previous fixture would be mercilessly leveraged now, with new ones prised open as required.
Chad Thach was especially on top of his game, and his fearless running against former Slovenian youth international Rudolf Kefalín only had to come off once to be worth it - as it was seven minutes in, as Thach followed up by lashing it crisply to the far post for 1-0.
Grilled Birds had settled into their winning pattern ahead of schedule, or so it felt, and they would swifly increase their lead to three goals by the 13th minute. Thach would be at it again with the forwards recognizing a man on fire when they saw one, and
Joe Reece happily gave way for him to dribble through and smack a second in, on his next run. It had to be a very bad day for Philip Boestlinger indeed, with there being virtually no support when Thach dropped it off for an unattended
Chia Kwang Tse three minutes later, with Chia more than capable of planting it to the corner too!
Mayuyu AKB48 would stem the bleeding after that massive early trauma, as Italian captain Gerardo Ravarotto compacted his fellows into a compressed low block. While this did nothing for their own attacking chances, it did finally stabilize their defence, which had to be the priority here. Grilled's midfield found no joy against this simple but effective countermeasure, and after
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan raked a right-footer off the crossbar in the 26th, Mayuyu would get one back through Hunor Inczédi's sharp instincts.
Inczédi of course had Antonio Olivieri to thank for spotting his outside run from the left in the first place, but he would not be able to build on this strike with his team forced to return to a waiting game as Grilled pressed. This state of affairs lasted through the break, with the Birds slowly adapting too. Had
Joe Reece been at his best, or Boestlinger less impressive, it would be no exaggeration to state that the Welsh striker should have grabbed another hat-trick here.
Alas, Boestlinger was just that great in the second half, with his first denial of Reece coming in the 54th minute off a slightly-lazy curler that would nevertheless have beaten most goalkeepers. As if that were not enough, there would be a double rejection 69 minutes in, with the Swiss custodian first getting his fingers to Reece's flicked flat header aimed just under the bar. The corner was then delivered short to
Brian Reddy, who immediately moved it across to Reece, but Boestlinger somehow changed directions on a dime to block the driven finish.
Not even
Gústav Thoroddsen was able to get it past Boestlinger when the latter was in such a mood, as the Icelander's scoring streak finally came to and end, with Boestlinger's presence affecting him to such an extent on his best opportunity of the day that he wasted it completely. The travelling support really enjoyed it, from how they feted Boestlinger, who would also be roundly congratulated by a succession of grateful teammates.
This couldn't last forever, though, and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul would finally breach the Mayuyu goal once more in the 76th minute, with
Brian Reddy's repeated attempts in coming up the right flank eventually wearing Ravarotto down. Gustavo Favari had done well to largely keep Reddy contained for most of the contest, but the Grilled Number Seven was too tricky to be man-marked indefinitely, and one fakeout was all he needed.
The restoration of a three-goal lead had Grilled breathing a lot easier, and they would settle back into relaxed interpassing thereafter.
Federico Parada and
Evandro La Face would be on for Ferzan and Thoroddsen with a minute to go, before César Augusto Angeloni's two minutes of added time meant a final statement from
Joe Reece. Decidedly dissatisfied at his earlier failures, he would bet it all on a direct head-down sprint against the tiring Mayuyu's defence, and it came off with him sweeping it past Boestlinger's outstretched left leg, for five.
It wouldn't even be over with that, and there would be a last sprinkle of drama as Finnish forward Joonas Ahola stomped on
Aw Keng Chuan's right foot at the conclusion of a chase, that had seen Aw successfully take the ball off Ahola with a precisely-executed sliding tackle.
Dimitris Germanakos wasted no time in squaring up to Ahola, who looked unrepentant in standing over Aw and accusing him of simulation, but the referee promptly put a stop to all that nonsense by booking Ahola pronto.
