War Goes Raw
Narrow Escape
Many would have regarded bottom-dwellers War Nation FC as easy picking for this rampant Grilled Birds team, but the Woodlanders came uncomfortably close to equalling them at The Cooking Pot, fresh off taking a point off a strong newbies are newbies team. Then again, the Birds probably made it harder for themselves than they strictly had to, what with plenty of sloppiness in the opposition box, but they completed the job at the end.
Hwang Teck Fu was a glaring omission by the Birds, with the midfielder ordered to stay with his rehab program, and this meant that
Chad Thach would return to the first team - with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul falling back into the centre in the reshuffle. Popular 43 year-old Brazilian
José Luiz Velho also made a rare appearance on the bench, but from his noticeably more rotund look, few would have expected
Tian Yonghang from deploying him.
Over seventy five thousand tickets had been sold for this fixture, much of which could be attributed to the Birds faithful's expectation of a bloodbath, and there was every indication that one was brewing at the inception. Swiss referee Tim Sones wasted no time in starting the match, seemingly disconcerting the visitors, and
Lim An Keng would wheel away in joy from the ensuing extended left-sided attacking play.
A grim-faced Vurnon Swager had to be expected the worst after that, but conceding this early would have his team hunker down in all seriousness, which was a silver lining.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul and
Gandhik Chitre would be Grilled's main livewires as they swarmed the War Nation defence from all directions, but smart positioning by Chilean goalkeeper Juan Miguel Ditzel spared them the worst of these depredations. Not that it wasn't an all-team effort, with Finnish midfielder Jani Rissanen taking one for the team in stopping a potential
Chia Kwang Tse breakaway early, in the 22nd minute.
Grilled Birds' second goal would thus be a while in coming, and it would eventually arrive from the left wing too, with
Paulino Trindade making the most of his favourable matchup against a slightly-flighty Erhart von Mossner. The War Nation wide man expected too much of his captain Carl-Åke Broner when Trindade sped by in the 38th minute, and with Chitre drawing plenty of attention given that his woodwork-rocker was still fresh in the memory,
Chad Thach had more than enough time to set up his shot against Ditzel.
2-0 was probably somewhat less than the home fans had expected, but at the same time entirely adequate for Grilled's purposes. The Birds' players were clearly not operating at their full potential with some of them looking like they regarded the match as all but won, and they would be duly chastised 66 minutes in. German forward Götz Kleinwächter showed himself only too canny at holding it up while waiting for reinforcements, and although French strike partner Leonel de Sousa's run seemed obvious, the timing was simply too good.
This was definitely not what Grilled Birds had envisioned, but they would find restoring their goal cushion a tall order, against a War Nation side with nothing to lose and everything to gain. More than a few of their pushes upfield would be spoilt by their opponents' frenetic tackling, and although this brought yellow cards for Kleinwächter and Broner in turn, neither man begrudged their caution much. Broner's foul was in a problematic area, however, and
Raúl Himadas would return the ball to open play, before
Gandhik Chitre converted
Brian Reddy's smooth delivery for Grilled's third.
There would be no time for the excitement to abate, as War Nation reduced once more, against all odds. Grilled didn't even know what hit them as the Woodland side charged as one from kick-off, and the weight of numbers told once their first few risky passes came off.
Aw Keng Chuan seemed to have barrelled De Sousa over in their madcap race into the penalty area, but the referee turned a blind eye since Thormod Formo had put the ball into the net by then.
Enticed by the possibility of another point, the Nationals attempted to force the pace for the remaining ten minutes, but Grilled's far deeper reserves would see them dominate in the time left. Ditzel would have to play the hero against Marzuki right after Formo's goal by warding off the Number Seventeen's bullet drive, before watching relieved as
Chad Thach sent it wide three minutes on. There would be a late double sub for
Damian Hutter and
Chan Ze Han, but no impact with Sones blowing for time once the additional two minutes were up.
