Dragonslayers
Over Within Thirty
Singapore Red Dragons' perfect league streak was snapped by an aggressive Grilled side, who refused to be cowed either by the Dragons' stellar form, or by an early setback. The Birds' resistance would have the close to sixty thousand supporters at a sun-drenched The Cooking Pot believing again, as the visitors were further hit by an injury to influential midfielder Artem Lobashov.
Having disposed of newbies are newbies, Joker 9 and then Arcturules having put at least three goals past each of them - while maintaining two clean sheets - it was understandable that few bookies were giving the Birds much of a chance in this one. The odds were not flattering despite Grilled's home advantage, and this assessment would be soon supported by Brazilian captain Badico Gaudério scoring on the first attempt of the game, after a quick exchange with Robert Veerma down the middle.
The announcers had not even finished introducing all of their players yet, and with Csaba Báthory-Bozó and Chris Averett rating amongst the league's best in midfield and defence respectively, Grilled appeared doomed to another defeat... on paper.
Brian Reddy was not about to accord Gaudério any special respect on the right, though, and an extended run in the 12th minute had Reddy dart inside the Dragons box, creating enough chaos for
Paulino Trindade to sneak up for the equalizer.
That goal was cheered roundly by the home fans, and the Dragons looked shaken for the first time in a long while; even their narrow Cup defeat on penalties against Soccershen FC had them largely in control, but this was something that even their staunchest fan could not claim here. Grilled were fighting for every ball, and although
Aw Keng Chuan was late to a tackle on Elias Almeida Magalhães in the 21st minute, the effort was still appreciated by the greens in the stands.
Tian Yonghang had expressed his not-so-secret intention to attack the Dragons whenever possible in his pre-match interview, and this was exactly what his men did. For their part, Singapore Red Dragons were not too comfortable being pressed back by Grilled's positive play, and while there was an element of luck in
Chad Thach's 26th minute strike looping off Parmeet Naik's shin and over their Dutch Number One Tsjitse Westerlaan, the Birds more or less deserved it.
They were hardly done either, and kick-off only had them triple down on the pressing of flesh. There would be an entirely improbable loss of composure by Báthory-Bozó as
Mohd Marzuki Khairul snapped at his heels, and an attempt to turn his way out of trouble only got him running into
Hwang Teck Fu. David Walsh didn't have much time to think as he tried to salvage the situation, but only hoofed it over to the encroaching
Brian Reddy, who gleefully finished it off for 3-1!
The Dragons recognized that they were in big trouble now, but Grilled Birds kept their energy levels up, which severely restricted Dragons' movement. Artem Lobashov tried to force his way through 38 minutes in, but wound up sandwiched by a couple of Grilled defenders. Albanian referee Pantelakis Yialesakis saw this as a fair block, and Lobashov had to go off clutching his right hamstring, with Seah Yeng Hock his replacement.
This was not a good sign for the visitors, and indeed they would be in disarray too as Grilled kicked the second half off with a right bang. Westerlaan would be rudely called into action from the get-go as the Birds besieged his goal, and after some panicked defending, Marzuki unleashed a powerful drive that required a reaction save with the leg. The danger wasn't even fully cleared at that, and
Gandhik Chitre would put it narrowly over, a couple of minutes on.
Singapore Red Dragons were flagging badly now as their usual composure was nowhere to be found, and they would pose little trouble for an ebullient Grilled team, for the remainder of the contest. A late double sub of
Damian Hutter and
Bilal Mohammad Harun on for Aw and Lim was merely an afterthought as the Birds exerted control, and visiting head coach Berik Dosman looked like he just wanted it to be over, when Yialesakis blew for time after two added minutes.
