New Features Rise
Marzuki Enough
Grilled Birds' new generation of players announced themselves with their first national-level trophy, as they picked up the club's second Sapphire Challenger Cup, to end a nine-season drought. 34 year-old
Hong Kang Leong might have repaid his transfer fee several times over with his debut goal, but Grilled's foremost hero was without question
Mohd Marzuki Khairul, who made left attack his own with two crucial early strikes.
Gandhik Chitre was a late starter at right forward after passing Tian's final fitness test, with
Chia Kwang Tse chosen as central striker today. Hong would start beside
Ha Qicai in right defence, freeing
Aw Keng Chuan for defensive midfield, with
Hwang Teck Fu and
Damian Hutter then left out in the Birds' narrow 2-5-3. Featureship FC, chasing their first major silverware, kept with the 5-5-0 that had upset littlehorse so magnificently in the semifinals, if with some minor changes; former youth winger Balakrishnan Limaye would start at right wing, mirroring Badrul Zaman Limaye on the other flank, and South African Bert-Jan Limaye between them.
Another former Young Lions midfielder Leong Beng Kian would captain Featureship, though Finnish newcomer Tommi Tanila, a S$5.2 million purchase from Danish Division Four club FF Fremad a couple of days back, would be relegated to the bench. Italian Agostino Todaro and Turkish fullback Ergun Örsal would be the ones to make way after working so hard against littlehorse, as English boss Mike Ormel chased immortality.
The weather arguably favoured Featureship FC's long-shot tack - which they didn't even try to hide - if in an unpredictable manner, with the ball sometimes stuck on the turf. What was certain was that the Ang Mo Kio side had staked it all on their defence, with two men constantly on lynchpin winger
Brian Reddy for one.
Hong Kang Leong was never a shrinking wallflower, however, and he stepped up with several serviceable crosses from deep. One of those in the 17th minute seemed destined from
Gandhik Chitre, but Angolan veteran Jacinto Varela jostled inside to box Chitre out nicely.
Featureship probably believed that it was anybody's game if they scored first, and it was perhaps just as well for Grilled that they didn't. Their compressed banks of five were about the hardest formation for a passing team to get through, admittedly, at least until
Lim An Keng saw
Mohd Marzuki Khairul gearing up on the edge of the box, and skipped a reverse twenty-yarder to the forward. Marzuki hit the half-volley without hesitation, and it was more than Portuguese keeper Luís Nuno Pais could get a hand on.
Worse for Featureship, the build-up had also cost them Romanian defender Beniamin Bălţatu, after he had jarred his right knee trying to insert himself for the block on Marzuki's effort. French reserve Frédéric Germain had to come in, but he hadn't settled when Marzuki doubled the Birds' lead barely three minutes on.
Brian Reddy just needed a second's lapse to pop behind Badrul Zaman Limaye, and his delivery would be headed off Janusz Sabat's chest and past Pais, by the ecstatic Number Seventeen.
The drama had not even reached fever peak yet, as a now-desperate Featureship FC went for broke from kick-off, with their newfound determination earning them a free-kick about two yards outside the penalty area, after
Ha Qicai had to bump Leong Beng Kian off the ball illegally. Leong's thunderous take was only barely clawed aside by
Dimitris Germanakos, and the return clearance had Andorran referee Isidre Baldoví award a penalty to Grilled, for Pais' takedown of
Chia Kwang Tse.
Hong Kang Leong stepped up for it, but drilled it inches wide of the right post.
Remarkably, Hong's expression barely changed after he realized he had missed, although it likely helped a lot that the Birds remained two goals up. His defending was definitely not affected, as was evidence when he filled the gap quickly in the 36th minute, after
Aw Keng Chuan had hobbled to a halt mid-chase from nowhere. Featureship still had it all to do, though, and all Mike Ormel could come up with was to swop Juan Miguel Leyton on for Bertrand Lim on the hour, transitioning to a 4-5-1.
The Chilean striker found the supply thinner than he might have hoped, unfortunately, but his moment would arrive soon enough. Before that,
Brian Reddy would cut in from the right to test Pais in the 64th minute, with
Chad Thach then booked for his usual wild tackling on Bert-Jan Limaye. This led into Leyton running onto what seemed like a harmless sideways pass from Leong, before going through the gears and blowing past all comers. Balakrishnan Limaye called for it, and received well for 2-1!
It was getting really exciting now, with an equalizer surely transferring the momentum over to Featureship, which was why it was important that Grilled Birds won their second penalty when they did. The Featureship fans could hardly believe it when Baldoví again pointed to the spot after Sabat seemed to have marginally clipped Marzuki in the box, but replays confirmed that it was the right decision. Hong banged it straight up the centre this time, as Pais flung himself to the left.
With the gap returned to two goals, Featureship FC could no longer wait, and they would heed Ormel's orders to shoot whenever they could, to the letter. Leong Beng Kian led by example with a thirty-yarder seconds from kick-off, but that was probably too obvious for
Dimitris Germanakos. Badrul Zaman Limaye didn't spare his own reputation as he brought Chia down from behind in an effort to win the ball back as quickly as possible, and his team were rewarded in the 82nd, as Leong found the inside of the right post, blasting it from outside the right edge of the box.
This was a proper cup final, then, and the Ang Mo Kio challengers looked raring to go for extra time, as they continued throwing themselves forward. Alas, this was not their accustomed style of play, and
Gandhik Chitre would sneak through to slot a fourth home for Grilled, two minutes later. That would serve to finally extinguish Featureship FC's ardour, and a late double substitute of
Damian Hutter and
Hwang Teck Fu on for Trindade and Chitre, settled it for Grilled.
