The Marzuki Effect
Derby Delight
In this 31st match between newbies are newbies and Grilled Birds - the most-played fixture for the Birds by some distance, despite not sharing a league for twenty seasons - Grilled would record a fifth successive victory, and ten undefeated against their longtime fellow Jurong club. They would have to beat the odds for this, however, and were three goals down at one point, before
Mohd Marzuki Khairul rocked up from midfield.
newbies had of course won all four of their league matches thus far to head up the table, while the Birds had been hard-hit by the sale of almost all of their forwards; although
Gústav Thoroddsen had stayed, his support cast of
Lim An Keng and
Chad Thach remained rookie strikers in training. The hosts for their part had yet to even concede a goal while hammering in thirteen, with Chen Meng Heng raring to go after his brace versus Queenstown MZKs. Former U-20 star Li Choon An remained the one to watch, though, as he pulled the strings in the withdrawn forward position.
The Number Nine and Number Ten would not have to wait long to make an impact before a screaming home crowd, as the sun came out for the first time in a while. The pitch was quick and dry, which suited both sides' direct attacking style just fine. An early question was whether newbies' compact 3-5-2 would yield too much space to Grilled's wingers, but that was moot in the early going - the hosts simply had too much drive going down the middle, and Li would give
Aw Keng Chuan the runaround in the twelfth minute, before unleashing it to the far post.
American referee Juan de Dios Sierra had a big decision to make when Li went down three minutes later following what looked like slight contact from
Hwang Teck Fu in the box, and he would deliberate before the video replay screen for what felt like an eternity, before giving it. Chen Meng Heng sprinted through the run-up and thundered it past
Dimitris Germanakos from the spot, and when Volkert Eutiner made it 3-0 from a free-kick the next minute with the Birds not having recovered, it sure looked like curtains for them.
Even
Lim An Keng's excellent reducer in the 22nd would be made to feel like a mere consolation, as Li duly restored newbies' fat advantage with his tricky dribbling. The turning point would be on hindsight the loss of German centreback Volkert Eutiner to bruised ribs, after the 30 year-old had run into an uncompromising Thoroddsen. 40 year-old former local international Martin Tung would have to come on, which turned out to be a very bad idea for the hosts.
While Tung's experience was undoubted, and his status as a newbies legend uncontested, it remained that his never-all-that-impressive pace had severely deteriorated. While his ability to win headers remained, Grilled were aware enough to exploit his vulnerabilities, and
Brian Reddy would purposely elect to run at him when he received the ball, two minutes after his entrance. That paid off quickly enough with Tung not even near attempting the required tackle, and all Reddy had to do was to wait for former Australian international goalie Nihe Manning to rush out.
newbies would adjust too with their fullbacks hanging back even more to give Tung his needed backup, but this would have ripple effects on the rest of the team. Now shorn of their wing attack threat, newbies would be forced further and further on the defensive. While this took them though to half-time unscathed, it left the Birds with the initiative, and they would only press it further as the game went on.
Federico Parada struck the first warning gong of the second half in the 52nd minute with Kevin Gibson blown away by his turn of pace, and only a magnificent leap across goal by Manning would save newbies then. Not for too long, however, as
Hwang Teck Fu made it 3-4 to Grilled on the next possession, having come in late as Reddy embarked on another incursion. The travelling support realized that a comeback might actually be on at this, and Grilled's ensuring waves would not disappoint.
Grilled's wingers were really flying now, and Parada would again outflank Gibson to bend in a dangerous inswinging cross four minutes later, which had Manning misjudge the trajectory for once.
Brian Reddy only had to make decent contact to score, but could not rise sufficiently high to keep the header down. A lull in the Birds' momentum followed, and
Chad Thach would be booked in the 69th, for taking young Ghani Zakwan down from behind.
Tian Yonghang was not exactly displeased at Thach's willingness to track back, but the Birds remained trailing, with newbies apparently having settled into a comfortable routine. Worse,
Gústav Thoroddsen's scoring touch appeared to have deserted him, as when he got himself in a great position in the 74th, only to mash it right at Manning. The rebound fell very kindly for an onrushing
Brian Reddy, though, and with a defender closing, Reddy would somehow slide it across for
Mohd Marzuki Khairul to knock into a now-unguarded net.
The home fans could hardly believe their eyes as Marzuki's equalizer flashed up on the stadium scoreboard, but worse was yet to come.
Brian Reddy was entering his element against Elijah Gardner, who while one of the top fullbacks in the league, was just not equipped to handle a Reddy in this mood. A sudden twist would have Gardner out of reach in the 79th minute, and there would be Marzuki again, to pot the winner!
A shellshocked newbies team would do all they could to salvage the game, but Grilled would not yield their advantage, and would be shameless in burning time whenever they could. Oldies
Bilal Mohammad Harun and
Chan Ze Han would do their level best to use up every additional second, and ran their hearts out in the four minutes of injury time given.
