AMDK Whittled
Six Step Program
Farmer Bunnies have been very familiar with oft-leaguemates AMDK FC, but this would be the first time that the II.3 Sentosa club would play Grilled Birds, in their seventeen-season history. The venue for this meeting would be Pearl Divers' Ballota Stadium in Pasir Ris, with Dutch referee Giel van der Geer officiating. There would be few changes from the team that had beaten the Buns 1-0 earlier in the season, most notably Quinto Checchinato at leftback, with Miguel Ascaso now shifted to right wing.
Van der Geer would blow for a restart barely three minutes after starting the game, as
Gandhik Chitre slammed the opener past Patriek Gijssel on the Birds' first serious foray. This had AMDK FC's Chinese coach Zheng Xiaoxiong visibly affected on the touchline, as his counterattacking plan caught an early blow. However, with his side having kept faithfully to a 4-5-1 for a time, improvisation would not have been easy, and they would therefore continue maintaining a deep posture and aspire to get Grilled to overcommit.
There was little indication that this was working out well for them, as it turned out, with Grilled all too often overrunning the AMDK FC midfield despite their defensive bent. Indeed, it could be argued that this very passivity brought about their downfall, as they were unable to clear their lines consistently.
Chad Thach would discover space to the right of Christoph Kreidl in the twelfth minute, and this was backed up by an opportunistic run from
Raúl Himadas, who found a new lease of life playing higher today. The Spanish defender certainly looked happier freed from being on alert all the time, and his innate flair would show as he cut through AMDK's backline to make it 2-0.
The Birds' expressive play would hit a roadblock about now as AMDK FC upped their close marking, and the game ground to a bit of a stalemate. Bulgarian winger Vasil Stoyanov would be carded in the 25th minute as he strove to make things happen for his team, and in the end it would be
Lim An Keng to thrash a third goal past Gijssel after 32 minutes.
Brian Reddy might have added to that immediately after, but his outrageous attempt to lob the goalie from thirty metres would miss by a hair.
Well, it was not like the probable outcome was in doubt by the time the break rolled around, and there was no sign that AMDK FC were after anything other than damage control thereafter. Grilled were made to work for their free-kick in the 58th minute, but after
Mohd Marzuki Khairul put it away from close up after a clever
Hwang Teck Fu flick, Zheng would all but throw in the towel, and put Ramón Ismael Coria on for Miguel Ascaso to earn some minutes.
Whether or not this was his intention, the substitution gave AMDK FC a new lease of life, and they would stage their first notable attack of the match when Vasil Stoyanov took
Brian Reddy on - and won - in the 64th minute. Quinto Checchinato was timely on the overlap, but he pulled the finish a yard wide.
Radomil Marcol just wanted to get the ball away as quickly as possible, and a lucky bounce saw
Aw Keng Chuan free to blast a fifth goal beyond a retreating Gijssel, from twenty-plus metres out.
That sparked a second change with veteran Dimitar Venev on for Frenchman Jean-Philippe Verfaillie in midfield, which would finally see AMDK FC earn their consolation. They were really pushing it in on the left with Reddy getting a bit lazy late in the game as usual, and Christoph Kreidl cleaved it hard into the Grilled box, after Stoyanov's pullback. Nobody quite picked up on Mithat Güder with Venev drawing all the attention, and the Turkish centreforward shouldered
Lim An Keng's soft challenge aside to score.
That was also the end of Güder's participation as he was withdrawn at the next stoppage, probably to save him for the league. 27 year-old Canadian striker Dani Landry would have to wait for Stoyanov to receive treatment for a bruised wrist after coming on, and he would give the Birds defence some trouble with his strength. The last word would still be Grilled's, though, as
Mohd Marzuki Khairul snapped up
Chad Thach's assist in added time.
