Phua On The Town
Birds Unready
Grilled Birds sank to their first league defeat of the term as
Radomil Marcol suffered a rude introduction to the Singaporean system, but Queenstown MZKs were definitely not relying on luck for this 4-2 home win in Clementi. Their robust support did play a part, but it was otherwise just their players matching Grilled's kick for kick and morefs, over the course of ninety minutes.
With the match at The Cooking Pot having finished 5-2 in the Birds' favour, one could think that Grilled were the hot favourites here - before realizing that they had to dig deep in the final ten minutes to pull away then. Hernán Fernández del Cerro was a glaring omission today with veteran local Goh Jie Yong preferred instead, but there would soon be another change for the hosts, as
Gandhik Chitre took Amal Razin Abdul Rafi out in a messy second minute tackle.
Chitre was probably undeserving of staying on then, with Amal having to go off to have his wrist looked at, and the Grilled Number Nineteen would have to endure boos for the rest of the game. 22 year-old Tham Wan Liang would insert himself with barely a hitch, and the game went on with Queenstown grinding their way to the upper hand.
It would be a compounded blow when it came, as Queenstown's Soo Jie linked up expertly with Combo M'Madi in the 24th minute, to skip past an engaged
Ha Qicai.
Radomil Marcol was caught in no-man's land as Soo sped right to the touchline before looping a cross to the far end of goal, where Adem Boğ gleefully supplied the final touch. Two minutes later, Gavin Rotenberg went the direct route with Boğ being the foil this time, as Marcol failed his first shotstopping test.
The Slovakian custodian looked well disgusted at himself for that, but redemption would not come easily. The Birds would pull one back after much hard work on their right flank freed
Brian Reddy to bomb towards Romano Santirocchi's goal by himself, but that contribution would soon be undone as Grilled's backline was left flat-footed by Satya Khade's sudden change of direction.
Raúl Himadas tried his best to keep pace, but Khade had his nose in front, and slipped it under Marcol for 3-1.
Tian Yonghang was not a happy camper as Marcol and more than a few Grilled players left the pitch with heads bowed for half-time, and they were powerless to prevent Queenstown from imposing themselves right from kick-off, and
Aw Keng Chuan had his hands full in trying to plug the ever-present holes in front of his defence. That would not preclude Adem Boğ from getting a clear sight on goal after some incredible footwork, but
Radomil Marcol would finally show his class here with an unbelievable save via leg.
The Birds then rallied strongly with refound confidence, boosted by
Brian Reddy's second goal in the 71st minute, after Goh Jie Yong misread a pass.
Raúl Himadas came close to putting Grilled level on their next push after a wild run by
Gandhik Chitre left much of Santirocchi's goal at his mercy, but the Spaniard went high and crashed it off the bar. Reddy would nearly do it with a potential assist to
Lim An Keng five minutes later, but the midfielder was a step too slow.
Instead, it was Phua Jing Wee who rose to the occasion, as he very nearly punished that miss from Queenstowns' immaculate clearance deep into Grilled's half. He would make sure in stoppage time after a trio of Birds substitutions, to exultation from the home crowd.
