Bright Mirth
Qicai Goes Hahaha
This second round of the Sapphire Challenger Cup pitted Grilled Birds against downtown club Brighton UK, now eleven seasons in their wait to break out of Division Three. Swedish head coach Thomas Olsson has not been shy about making changes, with recent national U-20 star wide man Dan Ku joining up for S$5.7 million. That required midfielder Ryan He to leave for over S$11.3 million, however, with He eventually ending up with II.4 hopefuls Dragon Devil's after a six-week detour in Lithuania with Rupūžgalviai FC.
Ku would be given the heavy responsibility of watching
Brian Reddy, as Olsson went with a lopsided 5-3-2 that concentrated most of his side's mass on the right wing. In a way, this was going beyond the Birds' usual consolidation of force, but with only former San Marino youth international Ruggero Ceccoli left in the middle together with countryman Remo Cesarini, Brighton could hardly expect to control the proceedings. French forward Damien Bazin - celebrating his 31st birthday - would captain the team, with Raimondas Karnauskis providing the muscle on his right side.
Brighton UK were clearly placing their hopes on catching Grilled understaffed on that flank with counterattacks, not that it affected the Birds' order of play in the slightest. Grilled were definitely banking on suffocating their opponents with numbers up the middle, and this won them an eleventh minute free-kick that they unfortunately sent far too few men up on. The opener would then come from an unexpected source six minutes later, as
Ha Qicai took a swipe at Reddy's rushed cross, and saw his partly-scuffed effort bounce past Norberto Brivitello.
That Ha was even inside the penalty area spoke much about Grilled's domination, and Brighton UK would have to wait for their chance to reply. Their back row of five meant that open shots remained hard to come by, with
Hwang Teck Fu unlucky in busting a cracker across and off the bar in the 22nd minute. Brighton's first true opportunity came after
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's miss in the 29th, and Brivitello's goal kick down the channel had
Aw Keng Chuan forced to bring Bazin down. Pranav Sharma lined up the free-kick near-perfectly, but he could not get the ball down sufficiently, after lifting it just over
Raúl Himadas on the far end of Grilled's six-man wall.
Brighton UK could hold on to their dreams as they got to half-time just one goal down, but it was difficult to imagine where they were going to get more attempts on
Radomil Marcol, having secured barely a third of the possession. And indeed, Grilled Birds would latch onto the game once more in the second half, with
Lim An Keng's strike spinning off young Mohd Ali Wahid for a corner kick in the 56th minute.
Raúl Himadas sent it lower and flatter than usual... which suited
Ha Qicai just fine, as he raced in at the near post, taking the entire Brighton defence unawares.
This was certainly a fresh experience for Ha, who had not scored for the entirety of the previous season - and never more than one in a game since his brace against tpyers soon after his arrival five years ago. The City club were appropriately roused by this blow, that said, as they realised that their passive approach was going to lose them the game eventually. This had them rattle Grilled with an about-face to a positive style, which had Marcol called rudely into action to stop Damien Bazin's elegant dribble 62 minutes in.
Brighton were encouraged by that development, and Ceccoli would seem like two men at times here, as he wove through Grilled's midfielders with impunity. This soon led to the Birds forgetting about Raimondas Karnauskis lurking on the right edge of the box, and once Pranav Sharma found the correct moment to play it in, Brighton were back in it, 2-1. For a minute, at least, as
Brian Reddy hit a very early cross seconds after the restart, and
Gandhik Chitre got lucky with Leow Seng Chun midreading the flight of the ball.
Now back two ahead, the Birds were not out of the water yet, as Brighton Uk continued to believe in their counterattack posture.
Brian Reddy would try to put an end to the contest three minutes after Chitre's goal, but he would be thrown off his finish by Tung Wei Jia, at the last instant. Spying his chance, Dan Ku set off up the now-empty left wing, brooking no opposition, and he would drag it across
Radomil Marcol's goalmouth unchallenged.
Aw Keng Chuan nicked it away from the encroaching Bazin with some difficulty, and Raimondas Karnauskis flashed it inches outside the near post with his first-time half-volley.
That electric exchange would warn the teams off taking risks for awhile, but Brighton were running out of time, even as
Chad Thach collected the first card of the match for one jersey tug too many on Ceccoli. The team in teal would have to push after that, but came to grief in the 81st minute, as Li Ah Chee had his pocket picked by
Raúl Himadas, in trying to twist his way out of a trap set at the corner flag. Himadas knocked it on to a onrushing teammate... who happened to be a
Ha Qicai out for his third - and so it was!
The usually-reserved Hong Kong skipper would gear up for a cartwheel at that, only to settle for a safer forward roll after reconsideration. The game would only resume three minutes later as the Grilled bench mobbed Ha too for his rare achievement, but there would be no lack of further excitement with Thach then almost gifting Bazin a free shot from five yards. He rushed it, however, and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul would clip a curler to the far post as the ball was returned upfield. Tung Wei Jia kept it out, and
Aw Keng Chuan would be booked for a messy tackle on Remo Cesarini next - though the free-kick came to nothing.
