Coco Crunched
Parada Lost
The qualifier against III.3 champions Coco FC proved far less trouble than anticipated, and
Dimitris Germanakos's return to goalkeeping duties after three weeks out would conclude in an effortless clean sheet. The visitors attempted to test him from distance as they stayed back in two banks of five, but all that resulted in was a steady deterioration in the face of a spirited Grilled XI.
The Cooking Pot hosted over eighty-one thousand for this contest, and not all of them had taken their seats when
Lim An Keng crashed through unconvincing coverage by Coco, to send his shot over Michael Harrison courtesy of a heavy deflection off Teng Guang Kum's shin. That would set the tone for the remainder of the match, together with Ang Ah Xin's ninth minute yellow card for a robust sweep on
Brian Reddy.
It would be 4-0 by the 28th minute as both Lim and
Chad Thach completed their braces early on, as they reveled in their advanced positions. The Coco backline's attempts to stick close to them lacked coordination, which allowed the Grilled forwards only too many opportunities to pick them off with sudden pulls towards goal.
Federico Parada was unfortunately raked across his knee as he pranced about working a free-kick in the 32nd minute, which had
Paulino Trindade called into action.
Trindade's inclusion didn't slow the Birds at all, although Coco FC did press better through half-time, with debutant captain Lo Jing Chin's natural leadership abilities shining through at times from rightback. This was of course nowhere near enough to overturn Grilled's many advantages, and after Li Shun Yeow gave up another booking in trying to keep up with
Gandhik Chitre, the Number Nineteen would dribble him to deposit the fifth goal into the net.
Grilled were not entirely tame either, that said, and
Brian Reddy had had enough by the 57th minute, and he would give Ang Ah Xin a taste of his own medicine after repeated bumps, for which he got a yellow too. That did warn Ang off him, however, and probably aided in his unopposed sprint into the box four minutes later, where he got on the end of some excellent midfield interplay, for a simple finish.
The home fans were really enjoying this after being on the wrong end of some whippings in past weeks, and
Chia Kwang Tse received loud acclamation after attacking
Aw Keng Chuan's whipped low corner with intent in the 65th, sizzling it past Harrison. Chitre would be unlucky with his following efforts, one of which nearly cracked the post, and it was
Hwang Teck Fu who put a lid on the scoring, as he polished off
Brian Reddy's neat assist after 70 minutes.
