New Continuity
Stoppage Thrills
The latest instalment of the most-storied fixture in Grilled Birds history ended in another victory for newbies are newbies at their Jurong ground, building on their 4-2 from last season that had broken a ten-match winless streak against the Birds. There had been no major transfers since then with newbies head coach Kwok Wan Yau trusting in his prime-age midfielders and fullbacks, if with Tan Chu Chao missing due to suspension. Li Choon An and Chen Meng Heng, so devastating in this fixture back in August, were however available to pick up the slack.
Gústav Thoroddsen and Federico Parada had their absence sorely felt as the Grilled squad were introduced, but with designated central striker
Gandhik Chitre having gotten two against Nihe Manning in that last game, their supporters remained quietly confident. And indeed, the Number Nineteen was in fine form as he took on Volkert Eutiner very eagerly as often as he could, which saw a path open up for
Brian Reddy in the eighth minute. It remained narrow, granted, but the winger figured that nothing ventured, nothing gained, and he outran Kevin Gibson to clip it past Manning for 1-0.
This was an annoying development for the home faithful, who only upped their volume at that downer. Li and Chen were slowly taking over the middle of the park despite Grilled's obvious strengths in the area, and 19 year-old Lam Kang Su would prove a surprisingly serviceable stand-in for Tan Chu Chao, with his covering runs lending an extra body where needed all too often. Not only that, Lam would have great sense for when to attack too, as when he sprinted for Ang Keng Jia's likely cross in the 28th minute, and was shown to be all too prescient.
Dimitris Germanakos tried to close the distance, but Lam sidefooted it first time low past him to equalize.
That was more like it for the newbies supporters, and the tempo would only increase as the first half neared its end.
Chia Kwang Tse's ankle knock was given short shrift by the hostile fans, which only added spice for his teammates.
Hwang Teck Fu had Manning flinging himself at a flying header after 41 minutes, which soon saw Lai Ping Keong overrunning
Damian Hutter on the left wing, as newbies bounced back. With just Germanakos to beat, Lai inexplicably took several unneeded steps, and the chance was gone.
If the spectators thought that this was it for the half, though, they could not have been more mistaken, as it only really began after the fourth official indicated two added minutes. Almost immediately, Lai's backheel from a corner was pounced on by Ang Keng Jia to give them the lead, and the scoreboard had barely been updated, when captain Wan Wadi Syarif made it 3-1 from a textbook header on Ang's cross. It was then newbies' turn to lose themselves, as Grilled's all-in offensive from the next kick-off paid off with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul banging it past Manning.
Young Ivory Coast referee Aristide Djobo looked slightly out of his depth as he struggled to catch up on the action, and he looked more than a little relieved to finally signal a break, straight after Zhong Kim Tse had restarted the match for the fifth time in five minutes. The Birds would look pretty dangerous in spurts despite newbies just about controlling the game, but once Zhong had held off
Ha Qicai for a fourth goal in the 66th minute, Grilled were increasingly left in the shadows.
It was newbies to make full use of their exhausting man-marking setup from then on, alongside enjoying the spaces that Grilled left behind in their catch-up mission. Wan Wadi Syarif would be perhaps an inch from putting them further ahead in the 79th as he executed another soaring header, and they would have to wait until injury time once more, for Li Choon Ah to finally put the Birds to bed with his tremendous dribble in from the right.
