One Goal To Paradise
Stars Outshone
League competitors Glory Paradiso would resort to a counterattacking posture against the Birds in today's Sapphire Challenger Cup game, but Grilled's trust in their own strengths would tip it their way at the end. There would be many ups and downs, however, beginning with the odd decision by Paradiso to take Pang Kian Yao off in the very first minute, with 32 year-old veteran Mah Lee Kim coming on.
Later interviews would not reveal anything particularly the matter with Pang, and all the match commentators could do was speculate. Their analysis grew only the more incredulous as it became clear that Paradiso were sitting back despite a lack of explicit central defenders, and Mah's goals would indeed instead arise from the normal course of play. The unlikely substitute would capitalize on
Ha Qicai having to bail out
Brian Reddy to enter in the 20th minute, before a banging attempt reminiscent of a peak Bilal, fourteen minutes on.
Grilled Birds looked cooked at this point, but as their last two games against newbies are newbies and Club Omnisports D'Errachidia might have suggested, they were always a threat to score even shorn of their strikers - and often, at that.
Federico Parada was the first to challenge Ang Fu in the 41st, as he sliced in from the left with Yılmaz Bozkan unable to catch him. The goalkeeper could only slow the shot, but that was enough for Ong Yeng Eng to head it off the line.
The corner would be rejected too, but the Birds held the ball on the right, and an overload there would see
Hwang Teck Fu bury it for 2-1. Paradiso's composure took a huge blow, and they looked nothing like their previous selves, as Grilled went on to overturn their lead before half-time.
Lim An Keng slid Reddy's low cross past Fu from the first restart, and despite Paradiso clumping up after that, their loss of confidence allowed
Gandhik Chitre space enough to run in - and the 24 year-old's fancy footwork took him all the way.
That had Chitre promoted to forward in place of
Hwang Teck Fu for the second half, and
Tian Yonghang might have regretted not starting him there from the start. Paradiso got the first clear chance in the 49th minute as former Colombian youth international wingman Jose Andrés Escalante swung it high to Ajwad Mohd Raimi, who grazed the left post with his excellent glancing header. However, it was Chitre who got it on 68 minutes in, with
Brian Reddy doing the delivery. Alex Duncan might have helped it past Fu with his well-meaning interception-turned-deception, but referee Hans-Henrik Odgaard gave it to the Grilled man.
It would then be 5-2 in the 76th minute, after the Birds won their seventh corner of the game, with Parada knocking it out off a defender. The Bolivian would take it on himself, and
Chad Thach appeared to be certain to score as he flew towards the cross unimpeded, only to be met by Fu's stiff-arm at the moment of contact. There would not need to be a video replay, however, as Lim Ah Keng was on hand to convert.
This was also the sign for Thach to be replaced by
Damian Hutter, as Tian thought to freshen up the backline, but this would prove unwise. Hutter had no time to adjust himself as Paradiso went full tilt from kick-off, having nothing left to lose, and Escalante would put it in the Grilled box with a sea of Paradiso players waiting.
Dimitris Germanakos elected to stand his ground, and ended up helpless as Ajwad Mohd Raimi blasted it into his opposite top corner.
Grilled's two-goal lead was looking unexpectedly shaky at this point, with their Woodlands foes suddenly by far the more aggressive of the two sides. There was a brief respite that led to
Chia Kwang Tse take a volley on four minutes after Ajwad's goal, but that half-chance went nowhere fast.
Gústav Thoroddsen replaced Marzuki just before stoppage time to a warm welcome by the Birds fans, but that only fanned the nervousness, as Ajwad added another in seconds.
