Rule Of Four
Extra Spice
Eight seasons have passed since Arcturules smashed Grilled Birds 3-0 in II.4, but the East Coast club's cup history against the Birds would be the more predictive today; having lost both their competition matchups thus far, including an Emerald Challenger Cup final, this third round of the Singapore Cup would see Arcturules succumb as Grilled brought them to extra time.
While Arcturules had all but renewed their starting lineup since the clubs' last meeting, Grilled would see
Lim An Keng returning a far improved player, together with
Chia Kwang Tse and
Hwang Teck Fu now holding starting roles. A league resolution will have to wait, with the clubs scheduled for a mid-season double-header, but young Finnish head coach Jouko Hyvärinen gave a hint of what those games might look like, as he adopted an ultra-defensive 5-5-0 for the day.
This was nothing that the Birds weren't used to, and it would be a matter of whittling away at Arcturules' backline gradually, while keeping an eye out for any large spaces left behind. This tactical contest would go Grilled Birds' way first, with
Paulino Trindade often left surveying huge tracts of empty grass on the left, with Arcturules generally happy to clump inside at the first sign of danger. This didn't work in the 16th minute, with Trindade threading the needle to find
Mohd Marzuki Khairul on some well-coordinated masking runs, which resulted in Marzuki sending it past Vito van Weelie from three yards.
Arcturules' basic strategy remained very plausible, that setback notwithstanding, as Grilled's tendency to overcommit on the attack would rear its head soon. They had a bit of luck go their way as
Chad Thach's lob came back off the crossbar, which had leftback Florival Ramos lead a charge up the touchline. Former Sri Lankan international winger Ray Jayatissa took it past
Aw Keng Chuan in the final stretch, and it was back level.
Against this fine balance, it was difficult to figure out which of the clubs would seize the initiative next, although it was pretty clear that more goals would be forthcoming despite Arcturules' stance. In the end, a careless back-header from
Lim An Keng would grant them a corner, from which Genki Nagano put it wide at the back post. Lim's mistake then blossomed to his own benefit as he met
Brian Reddy's cross from the quick goal-kick very solidly indeed, dipping his header past Vito van Weelie for 2-1.
That had Arcturules retreat back to basics for a time, and the start of the second half had Hyvärinen make two early substitutions - Maher El Bacha and Choy Chee Da on, Ching Lee Chee and Yeo An Keong off. One had the feel that the Arcturules gaffer had been hoping to preserve them for Sunday, but that Grilled's lead had forced his hand here.
They needed it too, as the Birds pushed hard for a third goal, which might very well have been curtains for Arcturules given how little they were producing at this stage. A slow grind would have Grilled produce a free-kick, if admittedly easily stopped by the opposition goalie, in the 54th, but Vito van Weelie would have to be at his best to block Chia's flying header three minutes later. The madcap rush for the loose ball resulted in a yellow card for Ray Jayatissa as he charged straight into
Gandhik Chitre, but this free-kick would be headed off too.
Grilled's concentration would begin to fade in due time, however, and Arcturules got a big break in the 68th, when Jayatissa intercepted an obvious ball to Germanakos by
Chad Thach, only to mess the second touch up. That breathed new life into Arcturules regardless, and they would press decisively into Grilled's half for the first time. Former national U-20 forward Choy got a good look on Grilled's goal in the 71st minute and took it, curling it to Germanakos's far post for two-all!
The match then got very interesting indeed, as Arcturules claimed the lead as the Birds made a disastrous restart. There was probably no need to execute a Hail Mary rush into the Arcturules box as yet, and that left precious few defenders available when Genki Nagano came up tops in the aerial battle. Jayatissa was uncatchable on the right, and North Macedonian winger Ognen Najdoski came in from the other flank, to blast it beyond
Dimitris Germanakos's attempted bodyblock.
The Birds were now seriously up against it with Arcturules eager to use up any spare second they had, whilst sustaining their all-out press. All Grilled could do was to continue creating as much as possible, and hope that something, anything, came off.
Gandhik Chitre gave every impression of thinking he had lost the game when he miskicked from five yards in the 83rd, but along came
Chia Kwang Tse to save his bacon, with a stunning left-footed volley two minutes later.
That had the game enter extra time, at which it was revealed that Arcturules' press was on its last legs. It had understandably been difficult for their players to track Grilled's relentlessly over ninety minutes, and this level of intensity simply could not be kept up with for much longer. This suited
Lim An Keng just fine, as he inserted himself into one of the gaps left behind six minutes into added time, to ping
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's clever one-touch past Van Weelie for 4-3.
Tian Yonghang responded by making his own changes, withdrawing Trindade and Aw for
Toma Tamiya and
Damian Hutter, and the infusion of new energy would only widen the gulf between the sides. The rest of the extra time had Grilled carry out a one-sided beatdown, which concluded with Chia grabbing his second goal in the 112nd minute, after Toma's optimistic dribbling efforts on the left.
