Fading Roar
A Pointless Season
The Sing Tigers would end their campaign with a big zero after their 1-6 defeat to the Birds today, although Grilled did save them from the ignominy of failing to score over all fourteen fixtures too, by giving one up to Indonesian veteran Subarjo Dani late on. That the Tigers had managed to attract nearly fifty thousand to The sixth road despite such a record spoke volumes about the loyalty of their core fanbase, who took to Dani's strike like they had won the title instead.
Up after seven years in Division Three, the Tigers would soon realize that they were not cut out for the next level yet, and their return would be obvious not long afterwards. Granted, Grilled Birds were not doing much better after a relatively bright start, but the Jurong derby would draw a respectable crowd regardless. Tigers head coach Sean Starmer did have the luxury of a solid financial base, and he stuck to his favoured 5-5-0, not being under any pressure to divest.
Grilled kept to what was about their strongest available lineup too, with the notable exception of
Cameron Law in goal, but he would hardly be called upon as the Birds hogged the ball in opposition territory. There was slight concern from the Grilled bench when Charlie Chung caught
Brian Reddy late on his left foot in the 19th minute, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, and Reddy would stumble on and release
Chad Thach on a good angle to shoot - and it was one-nil.
The next eight minutes would see the Birds go 3-0 up, with
Federico Parada's amazing flying kick on a creative tee-up from
Mohd Marzuki Khairul followed within a couple of minutes by a neat play-through for
Hwang Teck Fu by Reddy on the right. Nothing new for the Tigers, of course, as their eagerness to sit back did more harm than good really. Starmer's main saving grace was that the supporters appeared to understand his plea for time to bring the trainees up, with Taiwanese duo Song Guonan and Xu Haoxiang suggesting their potential in spurts.
The next half saw precious little change with Grilled Birds continuing to be invited to shoot, one that they happily took the Tigers up on. All eyes were on
Chia Kwang Tse as he furtively made his way up the right side in the 56th minute, and with the travelling fans exhorting him to take his chances, he would hit it hard and low past Croatian Number One David Batinić, if for only his second league goal of the term.
It was getting to be a real free-for-all now, with the Birds' players sensing that they were on easy street, and this had them play fast and loose in the final third with essentially no stakes on the table.
Federico Parada would rack up two assists in as many minutes, as he first slung it across to
Brian Reddy in the 68th for a calm finish from eight yards, before floating a corner that
Ha Qicai attacked with finality. The ball came off Ha's forehead dipping sharply towards the ground, too abruptly for Batinić to deal with - and it was six.
Gandhik Chitre tried to get in on the action with a signature rush in the 74th, but that came right back off the post, and launched the Tigers' only true counterattack in a long while. The usual disinterested buzz perked up as Ayman Zanaty vaulted Ha deep down the right wing with Parada late to track back, and rose to a crescendo once Subarjo Dani shook free of Marzuki, to bury it past
Cameron Law. The long-suffering Tigers fans had waited over 1245 minutes for this, and nothing was about to stop them from getting their fill of the goal celebrations!
Both Swiss referee Jürgen Filli and
Tian Yonghang were quite understanding at the circumstances, with Tian going as far as to pat Starmer on the back as they waited for the hubbub to fade, secure in the knowledge that they would not be rivals again for some time. Chitre would try hard for the remaining fifteen minutes, but it was simply not his day, and Tian would hand
Toma Tamiya,
Damian Hutter and
Teo Chuan Yong some spare minutes towards the end.
