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| FIXTURE HISTORY |
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| Season 88 | W | 6 - 4 | League | | Season 88 | L | 6 - 5 | League | | Season 85 | W | 6 - 5 | Tournament (Group Phase) | | Season 79 | L | 2 - 7 | Qualification | | Season 74 | W | 4 - 1 | League |
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Twelve Of The Best
Paulino's Trinity
There had been ten the last time these met, but not many would have bet on there being twelve today, a figure that Grilled Birds had not attained in a league game since their 5-7 loss to -= Manchester United =- in the S-League, ten years ago. As then, a scorching day brought optimal conditions for the quick passing game that the Birds favoured above all, and it helped that they had visitors who were like-minded on the importance of defence, which was not very.
Last week's defeat to newbies are newbies would not bring any new ideas out of
Tian Yonghang, so it seemed, as Joker 9 kept with their accustomed style too, despite it bringing them three draws and two losses thus far in II.2. Their head coach Dane Kim's job security had been boosted by a good Consolation Cup campaign that has seen them into the last eight after defeating Merlion 3-0, and Tay Fu Yew - hero with a brace then - would feature at The Pot today, next to the ever-lethal Chan Jian Jian.
It would not take long for the general tenor of the day to be set, with the commentators having barely completed their introductions, when Ang Yi Da put it past
Dimitris Germanakos after some absolutely terrible communication between his defenders. The Grilled custodian's on-and-off tirade would in turn still be in progress, when
Paulino Trindade levelled it back up in the fourth minute, having crossed over with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul to nod the latter's short cross beautifully over Jens-Harald Schimmelpfennig.
That had the latecomers hurry to their seats a little more frantically than might have otherwise been expected, as Joker 9 seized on a few more of Grilled's lapses than the other way around, with Chan clattering a low-backlift strike off the far post 22 minutes in.
Brian Reddy's 27th minute yellow for downing Hans-Ulrich Rehn didn't seem to presage well for the Birds, but it instead sparked one goal after another, as first Marzuki and then
Aw Keng Chuan worked their way through the suddenly-porous Joker backline.
Kim's day was more or less ruined then, as he struggled to arrange a coherent response to the coup. Grilled spent much of the following forty-five minutes of open play biding their time, playing it back each time at the slightest sign of trouble. This had them keep their two-goal lead to the 72nd minute without too many hiccups, though it wasn't too much appreciated by the fans on both sides.
Trindade's patience at this safety-first approach was finite, and the São Tomé winger could not resist taking Aldis Cildermanis on whenever Grilled manufactured a straight duel. This would come good 73 minutes in, as he got the better of the Latvian to slot it in at the near post. Trindade's goal encouraged Grilled to let loose further, and after
Lim An Keng potted a fifth on poor marking, Trindade had his hat-trick from
Chad Thach's incredible blind twenty-yard pass with the heel of his boot.
It was a special, special goal that had many of the home fans up and dancing, and Tian could not very well hold his team back, not when they had a five-goal lead banked. Now in party mood,
Brian Reddy entertained with a wild rabona from the right that was only barely cleared by Ariel Maceiras before it reached
Lim An Keng, but the Jokers had a bit of a recovery here. Ang Yi Da got the volume down by a lot as he converted Chan Jian Jian's inside pass in the 82nd, and Chan would assist again three minutes later, flashing it across to Mario Schumpbach mid-dribble.
Grilled enjoyed the rare condition of not having to worry despite conceding twice in rapid succession, and the Jokers' dissolution of their formation in search of a fourth would open the way for
Chad Thach to make it 7-3 only too easily. There would be little pretense at discipline now, as a 43 year-old
Bilal Mohammad Harun claimed his first goal in six seasons off a heavily-contested Reddy cross, before Vikas Satishchandra had the satisfaction of taking the final goal, both in injury time.
