On Level Ground
Aw No
Despite an otherwise undistinguished season, Ambush F.C. had managed to hold the Birds to a 4-4 draw at Hab Sukan Singapura earlier in the season, and they would manage the same feat once more at The Cooking Pot. The weather cleared up for this Sunday match - if with a little too much sun for comfort - as the visitors adapted to a pressing 3-5-2 approach that had their versatile captain Jimmy Pham drop to leftback. This necessitated veteran Woo Wei Yi sitting at right wing, and sacrificed out-of-favour then-hero Taylor Pham in attack.
Grilled had
Dimitris Germanakos back in goal as
Radomil Marcol was rested in a slightly worrying sign for the bumper signing, but there would not be much indication that he was about to be called upon much, save for a seventh minute rush from Li Su Yi that he handled competently. That followed
Gandhik Chitre's duel against Tajuddin Ridwan Taqiuddin after taking
Brian Reddy's cross down magnificently at the other end, but the Birds forward couldn't find enough space to put it past the goalie.
The rest of the first half would be marked by Ambush's busy close-marking approach that gave Grilled little time on the ball, much of which was down to Kee Kok Hui's indefatigable chasing down of any stragglers in the final third.
Aw Keng Chuan seemed somewhat confused with his usual role not being called for, and he would attempt to join in on attacks more, but to no great success.
This did not prevent the Birds from working their way inside after 34 minutes, as
Ha Qicai took it across the halfway line by himself, dutifully trailed by Wil Tai. This drive opened the Ambush lines up sufficiently for
Mohd Marzuki Khairul to play
Paulino Trindade in, but the winger's slicing effort only bounced off the bar.
That was it for the first forty-five, and if Grilled were expecting their opponents to tire, that would not really happen. In fact, the Birds team could be accused of not pushing the pace enough, and they would be punished for it in the 75th minute, right after Marzuki was subbed out for
Chia Kwang Tse. No-one tracked Li Su Yi as went on an extended overlap down the right, and by the time Trindade made an effort to recover, Li had run onto Yip Jin's pass to score.
If Grilled weren't panicking before, they were now, and with barely ten minutes left, they looked no closer to cracking the Ambush defence than at the start of the game. There would be a maniac stampede up the left in the 78th minute, that appeared to have been herded off by Kee, as so many others had been before. However,
Aw Keng Chuan's desperate lunge nicked the loose ball on to
Chad Thach, who blazed through the Ambush defensive line... only to have be stopped at the near post by Taqiuddin's crouch.
There would be worse to come for Grilled, as the corner had to be delayed with Aw writhing in agony where he fell. It turned out that he had caught his arm between Jimmy Pham and the ground, dislocating his elbow badly. While replays suggested that Pham might not been at fault, the injury was so grotesque that he did not protest, when belatedly yellow carded.
That didn't help the Birds as to the result, however, especially after the initial corner was cleared handily by Mak De Wai.
Lim An Keng won a second one with his devil-may-care blast on the volley, and while that would be headed out too, Lim was second time lucky with his following dribble inside, as he dared the defenders to tackle him before slotting it across Taqiuddin.
