Merlions Raking
Five Claws
Grilled Birds' terrible league away record was extended as they sank to a third straight loss on the road, conceding five against Sentosa's West Merlions. The affiliates of French club lambig boys le retour would seize control of midfield despite the Birds' best efforts, which was a death knell given Grilled's style of play. Sri Lankan signing Martin Ramanayake continued living up to his reputation as he bossed
Aw Keng Chuan with his superior technique, and a second-half injury to
Mohd Marzuki Khairul more or less collapsed the Birds' spirit.
Uruguay head coach Homero Balseiro had been left with the league to focus on, after his team had been knocked out of the Sapphire Challenger Cup by Padstow Pirates at first asking. Like Grilled, they were far better at home than not, though they did have a nice 3-0 win at Singapore Red Dragons under their belt. Balserio had kept his formation for the day under wraps, after a 5-5-0 press had not availed him against FC Barca Singapore last Sunday, but most would have expected something like the 3-5-2 that he eventually chose.
This had strikers Nicolae-Cristian Cută and Aide Gallartzagoitia return to the lineup after a week off, with Romanian sweeper Radu-Andrei Vărzaru as captain. The Birds knew that they were in trouble very quickly as they were unable to get the hosts off the ball in general, not helped by vigorous defending by the Merlions whenever they did lose it. Stefaan Blankenstein got the only card of the game in the 24th minute for delaying a free-kick, but he would soon be celebrating, as Juuso Varila followed up on Ajay Lieuw Fat's left wing move.
Chad Thach, fresh off his national outing, would try to bite back several minutes later, but Swedish custodian Sverre Abelin went down in a flash to save. Instead, it would be Blankenstein back in the thick of the action with the second goal, from a Nicolae-Cristian Cută assist in the 31st.
Brian Reddy pulled one back from
Raúl Himadas' fumbled header on the following corner as the match proceeded at a rapid clip, and Grilled were fortunate to survive the ensuing shots by Juuso Varila and Martin Ramanayake, with their defence in shambles.
Merlions' finishing would continue to let them down as the next half proceeded, as the Birds stayed back in numbers. Two well-warded free-kicks would give Grilled hope of first snatching an equaliser, and then turning it around, but they would be shattered once
Mohd Marzuki Khairul fell heavily on his chest following an ill-advised aerial challenge on Gavin Stockwell in the 67th minute. Marzuki was never getting close to that, but the injury was so obvious that Stockwell would put the ball out immediately. There was no question of Marzuki continuing, and thus
Teo Chuan Yong would have to make his first league appearance for the season - something he was evidently not expecting.
It had to be said that the 44 year-old Teo's physical condition left much to be desired, and as it turned out, Merlions had exactly the youth and energy to exploit the weakness this left in Grilled's engine room. Both Blankenstein and Ramanayake were barely more than half Teo's age, and found themselves able to bypass him easily in duels. This led to them racking up two more goals in turn - through Aide Gallartzagoitia and Radu-Andrei Vărzaru - before
Tian Yonghang could steady the ship.
This involved Grilled entering damage limitation mode with essentially a 4-6-0, with
Brian Reddy having to rely on his individual skill to carve a way for himself in the 77th minute, only to be stopped by Abelin once again. Tian's late double sub of Hutter and Toma on was clearly intended to spend the remaining minutes as much as possible, but Philippe Roudier would stab a fifth home in the dying seconds to complete the thrashing.
