Woe By Moe
Do Not Pass Goh
Grilled's Singapore Cup ambitions were ended by S-League contestants Moeinsingapore, which also made it the fifth straight win by the Pasir Ris giants over the Birds, six seasons after they were last league rivals in II.4. Moeinsingapore had actually suffered relegation to Division Three since then, only to shoot right up to the top flight via successive promotions, even winning the Singapore Ruby Challenger Cup last season while surviving the competition.
There would be some familiar faces from that past era as the Moes marched out in their away red star on black, such as national winger and homegrown pride Abhishek Gupta, and German veteran centreback Jonas Soppa. This was true for Grilled too, with
Dimitris Germanakos,
Aw Keng Chuan and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul reprising their roles from that last 2-7 defeat, which had
Chan Ze Han save a little face for the team. Well, Chan would not even make the bench today, but Grilled had probably as good a shot as they ever had, of getting something against their bogey club.
That they had just beaten Haha 1-0 via late Yang Feng Da winner didn't bode too well for Grilled Birds, who had to hope that the fixture had taken something out of their opponents. With the twain soon discovered to be finely matched in midfield, with their Lithuanian captain Virgantas Valkauskas mirroring
Aw Keng Chuan's cleanup role, it would become a matter of taking one's chances.
Gandhik Chitre didn't disappoint once he received a low bounce to his feet in the 16th minute, and his instinctive lob saw Canadian goalie Amit Washington just a little too far from his line.
The Grilled fans were quietened quickly enough as Moeinsingapore built briskly from the kick-off, as they demonstrated a mastery of the short passing game that surely had the Birds' own midfielders get envious. Many regard former Random Curiosity FC centre forward Goh Yew Shun's as being in line for a national callup, which was very understandable from how he bullied
Damian Hutter at times, resulting in a clean finish in the eighteenth minute to equalize. Had Germanakos not been on his toes, it might well have been 2-1 in the 32nd minute, after Goh took it off a careless
Mohd Marzuki Khairul in the box.
That buzz of action had Mohd Osman Hazimi booked for protesting what he felt was
Ha Qicai's unfair shielding of the ball as it trickled out, but Hazimi would soon get his own back, as he slammed Goh's knock-on from a corner into the net with relish. The Birds were reeling badly now, and despite Aw's best efforts at keeping order in the middle, Grilled would fall prey to a concerted Moe press straight from the restart, which had Michael Hajer give them a two-goal lead.
There was time for excitement at both ends before half-time still, with
Evandro La Face leading a madcap charge in the 41st, only to scoop it over the bar with
Orest Tokarz carded for ramming Jonas Soppa out of nowhere. Germanakos then had to bat a Goh snap left-footer aside, and the goalkeeper would spend the rest of added time chewing Hutter out, for letting Goh get away from him.
The second half started with Grilled seizing the initiative in a deviation from how the previous half had ended, and with
Chia Kwang Tse finding Aw making a rare run six minutes in, he would go for the sliced through pass... which came off magnificently. Masaya Suzuki had positioned himself by the book, but there was just no defending such a delivery, as Aw did his part by supplying a superb first touch to mostly kill the ball. Washington steadied himself, but the drive was true.
Grilled were back within reach, but just when they appeared to be establishing dominance, Goh would douse their dreams with a moment of magic, as he caught a volley beautifully off his right boot for 4-2 in the 68th. Granted, Marzuki would reply almost immediately as the Birds exploded down the middle, but the Moes clamped down hard after that. Abhishek Gupta moreover nearly snuck a fifth in for them, which required the oft-maligned
Damian Hutter to clear off the line.
