Back On The Fringe
Chitre Down
City titans Sarcastic Fringeheads had once been Grilled Birds' signature rivals in the S-League, but the past ten years had seen them go their separate ways, fortunes fallen. Their reunion in the semifinals of the Sapphire Challenger Cup would then be one of the most highly-anticipated events of the season to both fanbases, and in the end it would be the Birds to prevail - after drama that would not have been out of place at the height of both clubs' glory.
Fringeheads, uncannily like the Birds, have just returned to Division Two - II.3 in their case - only to meander in mid-table, with Polish boss Wiesław Radkowski building the team on the backs of all-action fullbacks Odo Bewersdorff and İrem Aktay. Today, however, their considerable attacking talents would be largely suppressed with local skipper Lyndon Oh helming a 5-5-0 press, which had Chilean winger Heriberto Criado assigned to neutralize
Brian Reddy as his primary job.
To be fair, this general strategy had worked against Grilled often enough, and after a staid opening half-hour in which neither team were willing to take risks, the match abruptly came into life with the Birds' near-hypnotizing advance up the centre. This first real chance of the day saw
Mohd Marzuki Khairul bear down on Romanian goalie Rareş-Mihai Başturea after skipping past Liao Loong Lai, but it turned out that Liao had done just enough to throw Marzuki off his stride.
The next opportunities belonged to the Fringeheads as they defied expectations to pass their way through the Grilled midfield, showing that counterattacks were just one of many tools in their box. This had Oh get on the end of Aktay's low diagonal cross in the 35th minute only to skew it wide from a tight angle, before Brayden Vo hit the post from Bewersdorff's supply two minutes later. If nothing else, Fringeheads' fullbacks were definitely living up to their reputations!
There would then be an ugly incident as Liao took
Chia Kwang Tse down roughly as the Grilled forward threatened to breeze by him, but the free-kick by
Aw Keng Chuan was quite terrible. Half-time thus arrived with neither party having made their mark yet, but the fans would not have much longer to wait - five minues into the second half, Aktay would astonish with his near-unreal acceleration as he powered through down the right wing, before slotting it past
Dimitris Germanakos with poise.
Grilled Birds were on the clock now, but as it was, they were still regularly causing their opponents trouble. Reddy's runs were for one difficult for Criado to keep up with, and a sharp turn in the 61st minute would see Criado reflexively sweep Reddy's legs from beneath him - and then plead his innocence - which was an easy yellow for Turkish referee Onur Raşit Sunar to give. Goals were what ultimately counted, though, and Marzuki had Grilled set here, as he broke the Fringehead lines to make it 1-1 after 69 minutes.
Memories of epics past would be summoned at this, and the players would not disappoint as they raised their game to the next level.
Brian Reddy wasn't about to be suppressed forever, and he would finally embark on an unstoppable dribble in the 70th, only for his final effort to be saved by Rareş-Mihai Başturea after some indecisiveness about the finish. Başturea's long kick would reach Lesław Ambroziak after a single knock-on as Fringeheads unleashed the counter, and this time
Dimitris Germanakos earned his keep with a fantastic diving stop.
The game would be finely balanced at this stage, and it would be
Lim An Keng to break the deadlock seemingly from nothing in the 77th minute. Picking the ball up in what looked like an innocent position some ten yards outside the box, Lim strolled it forward with the Fringeheads defenders unwilling to commit, before bursting into a run right as he entered the penalty area. Tyler Ton finally recognized the danger and went flying in with the block, but it was too late as Lim's shot ricocheted off the underside of his boot, to tumble past Başturea for 2-1.
It seemed all over with
Tian Yonghang making his final subs and with just a single minute of added time indicated, but the spectators who stayed would be rewarded with a superb final exchange.
Toma Tamiya, who had just come on for
Paulino Trindade, executed a tackle perfectly to put himself in position to shoot, but it just wasn't hard enough to trouble Başturea. This allowed Fringeheads on final counter, which had Liao Loong Lai beat
Gandhik Chitre in a straight race, only for Germanakos to bail him out with another flying save.
Chitre's appeals for medical attention after pulling his calf muscle in the sprint were not well-received by the Fringeheads fans, who not unreasonably thought it a blatant time-wasting effort. In any case, however, Sunar would blow for time immediately after
Teo Chuan Yong replaced Chitre, confirming the Birds' return to the Sapphire Challenger Cup final after nineteen seasons.
