Firm Driving Seat
Gústav Goner
Despite undisputed team star
Gústav Thoroddsen getting sent off in the eleventh minute, a ten-man Grilled Birds dug deep into their storehouse of courage, grit and sheer bloodyminded will, to prevail 4-3 on Controlar's home ground. Against much any other club in the league, Controlar would probably have won on the day, but this was altogether something else from a coldly-calculating Birds side.
With Thoroddsen scoring both goals in the earlier-season reverse fixture, great things were of course again expected from the Number 31, who would be ably flanked by
Phua Ming Xin and
Evandro La Face for the day. Rashad El Tahtawy instad of Ng Yi Ping would be the only change from before for the hosts, but the commentators' remark on such would be crudely cut short in the third minute, as
Brian Reddy advanced boldly up the right. While he would be eventually picked up,
Mohd Marzuki Khairul had intelligently shadowed him, and carried the aborted run on without missing a beat. Pedro Vasco Conceição Correia came out sensing the danger, but Marzuki's finish was first-class.
That was about the worst possible start possible for Controlar, but their fortunes appeared to take a sharp turn for the better soon, as
Gústav Thoroddsen lost it in an unprecedented moment of madness; Tong Yi Chuan's shielding of the ball out of bounds had somehow triggered something in the usually ice-cool forward, who responded by running his leg through Tong's out of nowhere. Dominican Republic referee Jimmy Granadillo immediately got his red card out, as players from both teams rushed to intervene.
The uproar took several minutes to subside as
Tian Yonghang personally shepherded a guilty-looking Thoroddsen off, as Tong received treatment for his winded condition on the pitch. The match resumed with Controlar now clearly in the ascendancy, and had Rashad El Tahtawy's fierce effort not been stopped on the line by
Aw Keng Chuan in the 19th minute, it might have ended quite differently. As it was, Grilled ran it back up the middle through
Lim An Keng as Controlar struggled to regroup, and it was instead
Hwang Teck Fu for two-nil, after an extended sprint alongside Lim.
Controlar's man advantage was too large to suppress forever, and they would inevitably gain some chances up the left side, with
Brian Reddy continuing taking risks in the hope of extending Grilled's lead further. This was probably a wash for the Birds, with young Rashad El Tahtawy making full use of an empty flank 28 minutes in, to feed Paulino Faladoiro for 2-1. Reddy's commitment to attacking would be rewarded twelve minutes into the second half at least, as one of his frequent crosses was met strongly by
Evandro La Face, and found a gap between Correia and his crossbar.
Not unexpectedly, Controlar had been the more active well before that, as an outnumbered Grilled team sought to conserve energy by playing it between themselves whenever they could. This had its shortcomings, such as when Marzuki lost the ball well in his own half 65 minutes in, only for Rashad's drive to be met by
Dimitris Germanakos at the last possible split-second. Hans Hendrik Biskopstø seemed certain to reduce four minutes later as another Reddy foray had left Grilled undermanned on their right again, but he cut it too close with his attempt to the far post.
It would then be four for the Birds, as they exceeded themselves again in making the most out of the few attacking possessions they mustered.
Egemen Dinçer Ferzan seemed to be questioning if he should run the ball up the left - and likely lose it in a jiffy, but El Tahtawy all but extended an invitation with a woefully-obvious sliding tackle. Now with only Håkan Ångwald to beat, Ferzan took on the challenge, and wound up centering it at just the right moment for
Phua Ming Xin to flip it home ahead of Au Weili.
This had to be a difficult pill to swallow for the home fans, who had seen their team dominate the half with minimal opposition. The final six minutes would be fire, as some consolation, with Tong Yi Chuan and then Biskopstø scoring in quick succession, as Grilled's overworked legs finally folded. There should have been an equalizer as Tan Keng Kwang then dashed through, only for
Ha Qicai to get in his way as he reared up for the shot. That was enough for Tian, who dragged out the double substitution of La Face and Aw for
Chan Ze Han and
Damian Hutter for as long as he dared - which was long enough.
