Steep Dip
Aw Yeah
It was a relatively tame opening to Season 89 for Grilled Birds, as long-established Ang Mo Kio semipro club jeepsteep 2 limited them to six goals, in the first round of the Singapore Cup. jeepsteep were fresh off capturing the title in V.14 under the auspices of rightback Lim Kian Tze, with Zhuang Ze Ze buoyed by 18 year-old understudy Jackson Chen in attack. The heavy pitch further afforded them some defensive advantage, but
Aw Keng Chuan came up with the second hat-trick of his career, to send the home team packing.
Italian referee Claudio Eufrate seemed none too pleased at having to officiate in the middle of a downpour, and had to scrabble about in the mud after nearly losing his coin after the toss.
Ha Qicai won it and
Gandhik Chitre got things started, upon which uniforms were splattered within minutes. jeepsteep stuck stubbornly to their two ranks of four, which were soon teased apart by the Birds' midfield hijinks.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul caused plenty of matchup issues when he dribbled up the left in the eleventh minute, which left
Chad Thach mostly unguarded for a simple finish past Lai Nie Xin.
The jeepsteep fans weren't expecting a miracle, from how they accepted going behind in fair humour, though they did berate Eufrate loudly for what they felt was a soft penalty award in the 18th minute.
Aw Keng Chuan hit it unnecessarily conservatively, but Lai wasn't quick enough with his feet to block it. The protestations would only grow as Eufrate gave the Birds a free-kick two minutes later for what looked like minimal contact by Fong Chi Li on
Hwang Teck Fu, which only increased in volume as Aw hit it through a leaky wall for 3-0.
Hwang would join Thach and Aw on the scoresheet six minutes later, as jeepsteep found themselves severely handicapped by their inability to cover Grilled's midfielders adequately;
Brian Reddy threw it up seemingly at random, but Hwang leapt right as the seeming miskick dropped by his side, and buried it into the net. Thach then poured on the pressure with Chau Liang Li trapped by
Lim An Keng in his own six-yard box two minutes later, and that was five.
The second half was a lot more low-profile with
Tian Yonghang possibly instructing his players to tone it down with the result already decided, a wise consideration given how his squad had been thinned down. The game would slow to a walk at times, and there would be few moments of note till the 71st minute, when Marzuki bore down against Abdul Wahab Rida Thaqif from the right, and drilled it off the near post. The referee would judge the jeepsteep fullback to have illegally nudged Marzuki off stride, however, and
Aw Keng Chuan converted his second spot kick of the day, this one hit accurately to the top left of goal.
Grilled would then cut loose a little more in the last ten minutes, and there would be a memorable sequence that began with
Gandhik Chitre slashing past three defenders in the 81st minute, only for Lai to extend himself and make a huge save. Chau Liang Li would do well to shield it away from Thach and knock it to safety, but the throw-in was flung long to
Lim An Keng, who thrashed it across goal... only for it to come straight back from a hurried attempt at clearing. He then got a toecap to nudge it in, only for Lai to be there.
