A Rise In The Rain
Raúl Resplendent
This league opener would not be blessed by good weather, but the close to fifty thousand who made it to The Cooking Pot regardless, would still enjoy three goals from a businesslike Birds team.
Dimitris Germanakos would be a familiar face guarding the net with
Radomil Marcol remaining in treatment, with the usual starters taking up their positions elsewise. Ambush F.C., who had held Grilled to two draws last season, had added former national youth player Cai Loong Choon and highly-rated 22 year-old fullback Kiichi Kida since their last meeting, but neither would make it on the pitch today.
Instead, it was Jimmy Pham to again anchor Ambush's defence at the right of their back three, with added cover provided by Kee Kok Hui from central midfield. Their head coach Chow Pin Qiang was certainly not stinting on giving the next generation their chance, with their other four midfielders not exceeding nineteen years of age. Tajuddin Ridwan Taqiuddin brought up their rear, with 21 year-old Taylor Pham having the responsibility of scoring - as he had done once before in this fixture.
The difference in experience in the centre was far too much from those previous meetings to allow the same resistance, though, and it quickly became clear that the visitors were in big trouble. They had running to spare, but far too little coordination for this level, and a simply passing pattern by the Grilled forwards in the seventh minute would see
Mohd Marzuki Khairul freed. The transfer-listed Mak De Wai kept Marzuki from pushing inside, but the forward had no issues slotting it past Tajuddin Ridwan Taqiuddin from an angle.
Going behind only influenced Ambush's youngsters to try and make up the deficit as quickly as possible, and they would rush Grilled from kick-off, against Chow's frantic objections on the sidelines. The head coach's worst fears would soon be manifest, as the Birds soon recovered the ball, and blazed down the right wing via
Brian Reddy. Reddy had time and space to consider his cross with Li Su Yi otherwise engaged, and it would drift long to Spanish defender
Raúl Himadas, who put his full weight behind his header, for 2-0!
That brought the Ambush team a telling-off from Chow, and they would stick to his tactics much more faithfully, at least for the remainder of this half. Of course, this did nothing for their own ambitions, and there would be more freedom to roam once Pham got the second period going. Grilled still held a considerable advantage when on the ball, however, and if
Mohd Marzuki Khairul had set himself before shooting in the 48th minute, he might well have gotten another goal.
Ambush had been struggling to advance on
Dimitris Germanakos all day, not helped by a lack of true understanding between their young midfielders, but the pieces would finally fall together in the 54th minute, as Riley Mallik dribbled clear of
Aw Keng Chuan for once. An unselfish pass then had Taylor Pham take on
Chia Kwang Tse, and Pham's clever footwork saw him sidle past the Grilled man on his outside. Alas, Pham's left foot was not as skilful as his right, and the finish spun away from the exposed far post.
It was back to Grilled pushing the pace after that, and with 75 minutes on the clock,
Raúl Himadas would score again from open play, as he rammed it hard from eighteen yards after
Lim An Keng's spearheading rush. There would then be attempts by
Chad Thach and
Gandhik Chitre in the final ten minutes as the Ambush team wavered, but neither were able to maintain their focus when it mattered.
