Final Booster
Li Makes Hash
It was shaping up to be an unexpectedly difficult match against Shadow Chaser(R) SC with top striker
Gústav Thoroddsen unavailable through suspension, what with visiting custodian Sylvain Briant saving next to everything thrown at him. The game then became a contest of goalkeeping nous as
Dimitris Germanakos then recorded a couple of critical stops for the Birds in the second half, before a fatal mistake allowed Grilled to run away with the points.
The French Briant for one was a stand-in for Polish captain Julian Pilichiewicz, whose future career is in doubt after sustaining a serious spinal injury against Mayuyu AKB48 some weeks ago. There would be a number of other changes from the side that lost 0-4 at home near the start of the season, most notably being the return of Thom Godling to the fray, with the Swedish winger also taking over the armband. Faroese defender Mikkjal av Lofti made his debut after a S$3.2 million move from Dutch VI.126 club AFC de Breuk, and had the unenviable role of being the last line of defence against a fired-up
Federico Parada.
Grilled's missing of Thoroddsen's undefinable quality in attack could not be mistaken, as they waded through some disjointed combinations up top in a mediocre start to the day.
Evandro La Face tried to keep things moving, but for all his other strengths, he simply did not have the eye for creation that Thoroddsen had in spades. Nineteen minutes crawled by before the Birds made their first real chance, from
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's swashbuckling dribble overlapping Parada, that he sadly took on himself instead of trying to feed the far better-placed
Phua Ming Xin.
No hard feelings there nevertheless, and Grilled's continued positivity would see them take the lead six minutes later. There didn't seem much to be worried about for the Chasers when
Brian Reddy received the ball in an awkward position on the right touchline under the watchful eye of Marcelinho Auriani, but an astounding turn on the dime freed him to race all the way to the corner flag, before launching the cross. It appeared overhit as it drifted to the far side of the box, but that suited
Aw Keng Chuan just fine, as he met the dropping ball with a very special volley!
It was all Sylvain Briant after that for the rest of the half, with
Orest Tokarz his unfortunate victim; on another day, the Polish Number Ten might well have claimed a hat-trick with the Chasers defence unable to contain him, but his direct style was perhaps too easy for Briant to read and prepare for. Fingertip save followed fingertip save as Tokarz barely kept his cool at being denied, with Aw instead getting booked in the 33rd minute for a cynical jersey tug on Stefan Prusaczyk. The free-kick didn't succeed, at least.
Tian had perhaps recognized that it was not about to be Tokarz's time, as he took him off for
Joe Reece, for the second half. This would coincide with the Chasers finding their feet, as they started to emerge from their prior defensive shell. Li Jie Meng's effort was headed into the roof of the net in the 58th minute, as he picked up on Godling's intentions before anyone else, but
Dimitris Germanakos more than earned his keep with a great leap to put it over.
Much the same occured at the Chasers end 73 minutes in, with
Evandro La Face having no better luck despite
Hwang Teck Fu's genius finally completely unlocking the backline, as he split the central defenders with a blind flick-on. Briant somehow extended himself to claw it aside, which quickly turned into a potential equalizer after Shogo Yamaoka carried it up the middle. Mikkjal av Lofti might well have made himself an instant cult hero had he kept his hard-hit drive on target, but it whistled past Germanakos's far post.
The Chasers were still very good value for an equalizer at this stage, with the Grilled team seeming uncharacteristically nervous sitting on a single-goal lead, but a single bad decision would ruin their hopes. Li Jie Meng had a breakaway on his mind as he dribbled it backwards to open up a better view, but he didn't count on the pressure that
Orest Tokarz could apply; his half-panicked backpass would then be picked off by a grateful
Evandro La Face, who lured Briant out before rounding him expertly for 2-0.
That severely damaged the goalkeeper's psyche, so it appeared, as he then failed to hold onto an eminently-saveable strike from
Joe Reece in the very next minute, despite having made a bunch of far more difficult stops today. Not only that, Romanian defender Florin Tarara would damage his right ankle trying to keep up with Reece, which may see him out for over a fortnight. Talib Umman did prove an adequate replacement, as he held the fort to the end.
