Gradually Cratered
Kwek Excites
The Birds moved closer to their first title in eight seasons by defeating Krattene 3-1 on a sunny day at Sentosa's Lau Pa Sat Stadium, with the hosts making a good show of it. While the final result confirms that they will go back down, Krattene can take heart in stopping Grilled's onslaught for long stretches, even creating several very good counterattacking chances for themselves.
This alone would be a far cry from the clubs' meeting in the second week of the season, when an overawed Krattene side was thumped 0-6 at The Cooking Pot. Jerry Nabholz's tactics had stayed the same since then, but the likes of Procopio Gigante and company had grown significantly more comfortable in their roles. Although this did not result in many points for Krattene, with their only win - a 2-1 - coming against tpyers, it did at least allow them to keep things reasonably competitive versus most opponents in the league.
Grilled were a clear exception, however, and there was every indication that this could be another embarrassing day out, once
Joe Reece shoved the first goal in, just five minutes in.
Federico Parada had been expected to try and get it over the wall from a slight angle, but he instead tapped it short to
Aw Keng Chuan, who again defied the norm in pushing it across the box. Reece only had to get it on target, with Rudy Vang in no position to challenge his shot.
Krattene composed themselves well after that setback, and it would be the Birds to throw themselves pointlessly on their defensive line after that. This did not make for the most entertaining football, but the home fans hardly minded, and were only too pleased to watch Parada getting swarmed whenever he snuck through.
Chia Kwang Tse's misfire in the 30th moreover led to a big break for Krattene from the return goal kick, with Zakariyya Mohd Syamsuddin guessing right as to how the bounce would go to get a nose ahead of
Ha Qicai, but he couldn't keep it down either.
A shock remained very much plausible with the Birds not looking very prolific, but the odds lengthened considerably once
Gústav Thoroddsen got on the scoresheet too, 38 minutes in. The Icelandic star had stayed under the radar for large part, but he would soon reprise his uncanny skill at grabbing goals without warning.
Federico Parada hit his cross early this time after getting boxed out once too often, and Thoroddsen instantly made his move against Enzo Bosatra, avoiding offside to the split second.
That second goal got the Birds' heads up, and Thoroddsen saw no reason not to go for a third two minutes later, when he was left with the ball on the left side of the box. The strike was decent enough, but Rudy Vang held his nerve, and managed to throw a hand in the way. That sparked another opportune counter for his team as Liechtenstein leftback Erni Woodtli scooted up an emptied-out flank, and Wang Weifa did well to keep pace in tandem. Woodtli managed to slide it across to Wang too, but the attempted finish would be badly forced.
That had Grilled Birds go into half-time two up, which was at once enough and perhaps slightly less than they had wanted. It restarted with
Paulino Trindade filling in for Parada, who appeared to have been complaining about some foot trouble, and Thoroddsen would also be withdrawn to allow
Phua Ming Xin his return to league play. Both substitutes came out at full blast, but made negligible impression on Krattene's sitting back, as they continued to bide their time.
In fact, it was the hosts who were responsible for the first real chance in the second half, as their iron wall eventually sparked an unseemly impatience in the Birds. Grilled had all but forgotten their positions by the 73rd minute as Sven Pleslić hit it over the top, and after a few composed passes on the run, Koh Siong Qiang found himself up against
Dimitris Germanakos, with
Aw Keng Chuan some distance away. Koh didn't realize that last, sadly, as he sidefooted it wide.
Krattene would have another great opportunity in short order, to their fans' delight, as Grilled persisted with their general disinterest in closing down. It nearly worked too, as some clever running by
Brian Reddy on the right saw him set
Orest Tokarz up for a natural volley, but Rudy Vang palmed it over for a corner. That was cleared too, and this time Kwek Leng Ping could hardly miss from the return move, having been fed the ball right in front of goal.
Dimitris Germanakos would point fingers at his defence on that, and the Krattene goal finally brought a reaction from the rest of the squad too. Fears that they could build on it were at least swiftly dispelled, as
Chia Kwang Tse restored the cushion within three minutes, as he slammed another Reddy cross into the ground, where the high bounce took it past Vang. Tokarz had another go too with a flying header as Grilled pressed their momentum, but the goalkeeper would come out on top once more.
Tian Yonghang sought to beef up the backline at this point by taking an increasingly-weathered Aw off for
Damian Hutter, which largely did the trick with the Austrian drawing a yellow card off Kwek almost with his first touch. That incident all but saw Grilled through to the end, with
Phua Ming Xin making his bid for a late, late goal deep into stoppage time, only for Vang to pull a world-class save off his free-kick.
