Marina Outdone
Vähäsantanen Refusal
Grilled Birds finally met Marina Sailors in the league after three cup clashes, and this would end safely in favour of the hosts at The Cooking Pot. The Sailors were not in the best of conditions coming off a torturous loss on penalties to Farmer Bunnies in the Sapphire Challenger Cup, and straight defeats to FC Barca Singapore and then Ambush F.C. did not help their reputation in II.2 either. German boss Reimar Ahrenberg would opt for the extra man in attack with Danilo Cipressa staying up, to leave just two in midfield - but their accompanying Route One football would not find a purchase, against Grilled's possession.
The Birds would have a full squad to choose from for once, with
Hwang Teck Fu the most notable absence as he was reportedly given leave for personal reasons. Sailors would rely on their first-string defence unlike with the Buns, if unexpectedly without Brazilian midfielder Pedro Aírton Pires Filho, who had done so much for them on Wednesday. Spanish goalkeeper Antonio Caro would captain the team in his stead, which was also the obvious tactical choice given the Sailors' gameplan.
This was of course to soak up as much of the Birds' advances as possible, in turn encouraged by the unavailability of regular striker José Manuel Rubia to
Amaya Ravula's tackle. Grilled were not in too much of a hurry as they contented themselves with playing keep-away, until
Brian Reddy got felled by Mohd Akmal Hizam Khairul Hakim midway through the half. The free-kick was smartly reversed into
Chia Kwang Tse, but there was simply no room to shoot... and so Chia simply cut it back the other way for
Lim An Keng to score via a precise lob.
Going behind would finally spur Marina Sailors into more positive activity, and they did look good carrying the ball forward actually. Mario Gustavsson made the Grilled midfield look slow as he rushed into the penalty box two minutes later, but young Bulgarian defender Tatos Karapetyan was pretty bad with the finish.
Chia Kwang Tse demonstrated how it was done soon after in the 33rd minute, as he put his right boot straight through the ball from twelve yards out, and had Caro barely twitching when it bulged the back of his net.
The rest of the half would see a flurry of near-misses, with
Aw Keng Chuan forcing a mid-air parry by Caro, after a fiercely-dipping
Brian Reddy cross. This resulted in one of the most promising Sailors counters yet, but it remained a big ask for the speedy Porter Wu to beat Marcol from over twenty metres. Wu would be hauled up by Italian referee Riccardo Capeccia for a naughty dive four minutes on, which had
Gandhik Chitre free on goal on the quick free-kick; Antonio Caro was there again, sadly, and he kept it out on pure reflex.
Sailors restarted the more active party for once, with Finnish winger Tomi Fofonoff making full use of
Brian Reddy's reluctance to track back. This brought perhaps their best chance of the game with Ville Vähäsantanen spinning half around to gracefully place it on a plate for fullback Mohd Akmal, but he would not be able to make the final connection. Grilled would then surge back through
Gandhik Chitre, but their third goal would come only in the 64th minute.
Chad Thach crashed a mighty effort back off the bar despite Porter Wu hanging off him, but it came back nicely for
Mohd Marzuki Khairul, who sidled away from Tatos Karapetyan's urgent slide-in, before sidefooting it home.
The visitors must have recognized that their goose was cooked at that, but the complacency hit Grilled all the more strongly. Marzuki would not deign to chase Mario Gustavsson after losing the ball to him in midfield, and it was soon clear that the Swede's pace was something special, as he pulled ahead of
Aw Keng Chuan despite the latter's considerable headstart.
Ha Qicai had to try and cover, but this left Ville Vähäsantanen unmarked - and the Finn was far too good to waste an open shot from that range. 3-1!
Grilled's three-goal lead would be restored barely three minutes on, though, as their continued predations left them with a free-kick right at the head of the penalty box, after some sly footwork by
Lim An Keng invited the late trip.
Raúl Himadas took up his position with
Aw Keng Chuan a little behind, but there was no need for trickery here, as the Spanish specialist thrashed it into the far side of goal, leaving Antonio Caro no chance at all.
