Lost On The Road
Štaffa Onset
Grilled Birds' title challenge wilted at Free Seating today, as Claseek charged to a 4-2 victory that should see them crowned next Sunday. Grilled could have little to complain about, as they simply did not create enough in Geylang to keep the ship sailing.
Claseek would revert to a 3-5-2 from the mirror formation they had chosen in that exhilarating 4-5 defeat earlier in the season, which had Greek veteran leftback Lampros Lithopoulos back in the mix. Former Senegalese international Abdou Diabi would be left on the bench despite a lingering head injury to Baldebert Sidal that made him unavailable, with Slovak signing Viktor Štaffa making his first appearance against Grilled. Štaffa's inclusion was entirely on merit, as the Birds would painfully discover.
Grilled were not without their own squad limitations either, with
Aw Keng Chuan's absence still adversely affecting their solidity without the ball. This lack of protection percolated to the other team members too, and
Raúl Himadas would be seen hobbling after tweaking his hamstring in chasing Chia Yun Yong about the 15th minute. This spelt trouble for the Grilled fans, who knew well Himadas' struggles with pace even at full health. Their fears were indeed realized twenty minutes later when Petar Kerkenyakov scorched past him with a slight stumble, before tapping it weakly to
Radomil Marcol.
The travelling support heaved a sigh of relief there, only to be horrified as the referee ran up pointing to the spot. Himadas had evidently gotten a little too much contact on the Bulgarian winger there, and while he would escape a card, the penalty was given.
Radomil Marcol would be Grilled's hero as he sprang left to ward Kerkenyakov's take over, and from the quick free-kick taken soon after at the other end,
Raúl Himadas missed clearing the jumping wall by inches.
That would be Grilled's downfall as Claseek attacked strongly after recovering it in midfield, and
Hwang Teck Fu could not stop Chan Kong Seng as the midfielder tore forward with his eyes on goal. Claseek would be two up a couple of minutes later, as a revitalized Kerkenyakov shook free of
Brian Reddy to reverse a disguised short pass towards Viktor Štaffa, who bent it past
Radomil Marcol first-time.
Grilled found it hard to raise their heads after that, and it was just as well that the half-time break came when it did.
Tian Yonghang's pep talk did restore some fight in his players, and they would resume contesting the ball in the second half. Still, the Birds were not going anywhere fast in particular with Claseek's organization at the back holding firm, and it took an accidental handball from Ivó Jávorszki off
Paulino Trindade's waist-high cross, to allow
Raúl Himadas to get one back from the spot.
It was anybody's guess as to who would be the next to score, as the match degenerated into a not-unattractive mess with all involved being anxious to correct the record. Claseek got the conversation going with a free-kick at the right corner of the penalty area, but
Radomil Marcol saved from Petar Kerkenyakov once more; the big goal-kick had
Chad Thach ram it into the post in seconds, and the wild race back up the field concluded with Štaffa pulling steadily away from
Ha Qicai in a straight race, for 3-1.
Claseek knew what they had to do now, and did it well, as they spent as much time as they could simply recycling the ball amongst themselves. This did not make for great watching, but their fans were entirely supportive. They were on their third encore about winning the title when Tian took Himadas and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul off in the last minute... only for
Hwang Teck Fu to catch their defence napping!
With a possible draw on the cards, the Birds would position themselves for one final Hail Mary, given that just one minute of stoppage time had been signalled. It failed, probably expectedly, and Lampros Lithopoulos would nick it into an empty goal on the break, with Marcol having advanced nearly to the half-way line.
