Checkmate In Five
Boğ Standard
It was Turkish striker Adem Boğ's day of glory for Queenstown MZKs, as he hit four goals past
Dimitris Germanakos in a disastrous defensive showing for Grilled Birds. To add injury to insult, Germanakos would have to withdraw with a gash in his head after unsuccessfully trying to prevent Boğ's fourth, as the Birds found themselves out of sorts in the final third.
Having taken Queenstown 5-3 earlier in the league season and 4-0 in the Cup, the Birds had every right to foresee a third win, but for the raucous home fans at the MZK Stadium - and the return of Italian goalkeeper Romano Santirocchi. Phua Jing Wee would be another new face replacing Gilberto Raas in midfield, but this was otherwise nothing that the Birds hadn't faced. Nothing was stopping Adem Boğ today, however, and in his first serious in the fourth minute, he absolutely skinned
Aw Keng Chuan flying in from the left before opening with a emphatic strike.
Starting without a recognized forward, the Birds would nevertheless cope as well as they could, which was actually not too bad. Their front trio of
Chad Thach,
Gandhik Chitre and
Lim An Keng had ample understanding from all that time in midfield together at the least, with Chitre only growing in strength in the leading role. A calm cushioned pass back to
Mohd Marzuki Khairul practically invited the latter to cut loose, and Marzuki duly smashed it high past Santirocchi, but not the bar.
It soon got nasty for the visitors, sadly, as nobody quite knew how to stop Adem Boğ today. Neither Aw nor
Ha Qicai knew how to deal with his ability to pop up everywhere in the box, and Soo Jie's bombing run down the right would lead to a second goal in the 20th minute. Soo would be booked for charging into
Federico Parada two minutes later, but this would only have Boğ complete his hat-trick, after Grilled's attempted delivery upfield from the free-kick went horribly awry.
Grilled boss
Tian Yonghang could not restrain himself any longer after watching his team go 0-3 down, and his furiously-delivered instructions from the touchline would at least stem the bleeding somewhat, with the Birds hunkering down. This was clearly not a viable solution, but from how Queentown's Turkish captain was scooting about, preventing a fourth had to be the top priority here.
The Birds would be ready to have a go at salvaging the game once the second half got underway, and they would display some of the attacking swagger that had seen them dominate last season. The lack of a Thoroddsen to apply the finishing touch still hampered them, however, and it would take strong initiative by
Federico Parada in the 55th minute, to create an opening supporting from the left.
Lim An Keng held Gavin Rotenberg off for just long enough, for Parada to crack it home.
Things were looking up for Grilled for the first time in a long while, and their talent at stringing short passes through the middle would begin to have an effect. A very convincing stepover by
Hwang Teck Fu threw Tomáš Aron completely off in the 62nd, and
Chad Thach's follow-up sprint into the box was a masterclass in ball control. Romano Santirocchi made himself big, though, and Thach could not squeeze it past the goalkeeper in the end.
Dimitris Germanakos had no such luck at the other end against an Adem Boğ who could do no wrong, and when Combo M'Madi floated a free-kick over the penalty area 67 minutes in, Germanakos was late to come out, and wound up knocking himself against an airborne Kwek Ho Jie, which left Boğ to tuck it away unhindered. The goal stood since Kwek had no way of avoiding the collision, and it would be Germanakos to be stretchered off bleeding profusely from a cut above his eyebrow, which gave
Manuel Vadalà his second league appearance of the season.
Grilled kept up the good fight to their credit, and six minutes after Germanakos had to go off,
Lim An Keng spotted Parada nipping in from the left wing, and positioned himself nicely for the incoming low cross. It might have gotten a lot more exciting had he also managed to get to another great delivery from Parada three minutes later, but could not get his leg up high enough. Amal Razin Abdul Rafi confirmed the win for Queenstown six minutes from the end, as he struck a Soo Jie lob powerfully beyond Vadalà's diving save attempt.
