Same Old So New
Exponential Li
newbies are newbies had one of their best showings ever against auld rivals Grilled Birds, embarassing them 1-6 on their own home ground to close the curtain on an intensely disappointing season for the hosts. While it was true that the Birds had little to play for, with Claseek having all but tied up the title, it remained a pathetic way to send their fans off for the next few weeks.
Sources close to the club did warn of drained muscles - and mental reserves - after last Sunday's defeat, and while
Ha Qicai tried to lift the spectators with a bouncing entry ahead of his teammates, there was no hiding that the Grilled squad were not into this at all. newbies, on the other hand, knew they had a slim chance of overhauling Claseek, which would require them to score as much as possible. They certainly didn't waste any time, as national U-20 hopeful Lam Kang Su slashed past
Chia Kwang Tse on their first real attack, and fed Li Choon An perfectly.
Radomil Marcol must not have expected to have to gather the ball out of his own minutes in the second minute, but his nightmare was only beginning. Grilled gave every impression of going through the motions, which was simply not about to cut it against a newbies team out to excel.
Paulino Trindade was caught napping when Tan Chu Chao ran at him in the fourth minute and assisted Lam Kang Su, and Li would up it to 3-0 by the eighth minute, pinging a fifteen-yarder off his left boot into the far corner of goal.
Poor Marcol couldn't even be held responsible for that - no goalkeeper would have gotten to it - but his travails were hardly done. It would take all of his considerable length to reject German fullback Kevin Gibson's stiff drive four minutes on, after which Grilled slowly achieved some measure of composure. A neat passing combination around Volkert Eutiner saw
Chad Thach with an open look in the 20th minute, but Romeo Gasparroni reacted well to push it around the post.
The Italian goalkeeper would earn the rare distinction of an assist seconds into the next half, as he surveyed the field boldly after it got played all the way back to him by Zhong Kim Tse on the kick-off.
Gandhik Chitre would make to chase him down belatedly, but Gasparroni had released a blistering lob downfield by then, and a missed header by
Hwang Teck Fu saw Au Kong Su free to score the fourth.
The home fans were not amused at all, and there would be scattered jeers and whistles against their erstwhile heroes.
Chia Kwang Tse battled hard down the left flank in the 63rd, and elbowed himself into space, only to fire right at Gasparroni. Gibson shaved the crossbar with his own lighthearted effort a few minutes later, and newbies' continued busting of guts had Chen Meng Heng put them five up soon. Unfortunately for them, Claseek had overturned Singapore Red Dragons' lead by then, which diminished their already-shrinking title ambitions.
Grilled's moment finally came right after Chen's goal, as it all came together for the Birds from their resolute push from the restart.
Lim An Keng and
Chia Kwang Tse made the newbies backline hesitate for an instant with their simultaneous outlet runs, opening it up for
Chad Thach to carve a way through for
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's consolation. Tan Chu Chao would hit back immediately, however, making it 1-6.
Aw Keng Chuan did not look a happy camper as he came on for Hwang with ten minutes left, but it was testament to his skills that newbies would not have another shot on target after he came on. Instead,
Gandhik Chitre would try to nick another deep in stoppage time, but Gasparroni was not about to let him have it.