New And Improved
Duel of The Ans
Grilled Birds put up a strong response against newbies are newbies at The Cooking Pot, more or less reversing the 2-5 defeat they had sustained in this derby, earlier in the season. Conditions were excellent for football as both sides largely kept to their previous tactics, if with Tan Chu Chao returning for the young Lam Kang Su in central midfield - and as new Portuguese goalkeeper Estêvão Ferreira makes his debut, alongside 37 year-old Aussie legend Nihe Manning going on the transfer list.
For the Birds, there would be some minor shuffling of positions as
Mohd Marzuki Khairul took up the right forward spot with
Chad Thach falling back, and also
Hong Kang Leong starting in defence with
Tian Yonghang's continued backing. Hong's clear vulnerability to pace had seen some Grilled fans turn on him, but if the former national player knew of this, no sign showed on his face during the warm-up and beyond.
In any case, the first half-hour or so would be uncharacteristically quiet by the standards of this fixture, currently in its thirty-forth edition. Where newbies had called the shots on their own ground, they would be far more circumspect here, and it was up to the Birds to make things happen on their own. 29 minutes in,
Chad Thach would invade the centre with
Chia Kwang Tse's cooperation, and a dinky chip off his left boot duly spoilt Ferreira's hopes for a clean sheet.
This was the signal for newbies to press their case too, and they would be back on level terms two minutes later, as Chen Meng Heng arrived in the six-yard box on cue for Lai Ping Keong's defence-splitting low cross.
Hong Kang Leong's moment came next as
Gandhik Chitre was felled about two yards outside the newbies box by Tan Chu Chao's calculated trip... which turned out to be a bad bet as Hong bent it around the wall and in for 2-1.
The Birds continued to force the initiative against their fellow Jurong club, with
Aw Keng Chuan grazing the crossbar with his well-hit effort from the left, 38 minutes in. Another professional foul by Tan in the 40th minute merely delayed the inevitable as Reddy took the free-kick immediately to feed
Lim An Keng, but newbies would end the half a single goal down, as Li Choon An emerged with the shot from a goalmouth melee right before half-time, following a couple of great chances created - but not converted - by
Chad Thach.
Five goals and plenty of excitement made this a worthy addition to the history of this fixture already, but neither team were ready to call it quits just yet. newbies head coach Kwok Wan Yau declined to adjust his approach for the second half of the match, though it was not clear if he had any better tactics available. In the exchanges that followed,
Hwang Teck Fu came up tops 54 minutes in, as he dribbled stylishly past an off-balance Volkert Eutiner to smash a fourth goal home for Grilled.
newbies would then take over for long stretches with Li Choon An starting to flaunt the creativity that had made him a teenage sensation, with the passage of a decade only serving to refine his previously-wild intuition. After heading newbies back into contention from another spot-on Lai Ping Keong delivery in the 62nd minute, he would slip past
Hong Kang Leong down the left in the 77th, only to be denied by
Dimitris Germanakos' shoulder, about as close as it came.
Grilled Birds were really tottering here, and their normally-reliable captain
Ha Qicai would be no exception, as he nearly allowed Zhong Kim Tse past him due to not playing to the whistle, and was forced to bump him off the ball. Referee Joppe Cabeke was exceedingly generous in not flashing a card, and fortunately for the Birds, Chen Meng Heng's free-kick following
Chad Thach's departure for
Paulino Trindade went straight into the five-man wall.
Nonetheless, the Birds gave every impression of barely clinging on to full points, and Tian provided much-needed relief when he took
Hong Kang Leong and
Gandhik Chitre off for
Damian Hutter and
Chan Ze Han, with two minutes remaining. That was enough time for
Lim An Keng to stamp his dominance over Li Choon An with an uncompromising and unsaveable bullet header to seal the win, however, one which also had Li withdrawn after spraining his back badly in trying to match Lim's altitude.
There would somehow be a final bit of drama to come, as
Brian Reddy attempted to poach a sixth goal as the final seconds ticked away. He went to ground far too readily with Elijah Gardner cannily pulling away right before contact was made, though, which got him a yellow card for diving.
