Five Before The Bell
Spanish Scorecard
This would be Controlar's first game against Grilled Birds in five seasons, with their latest clash back in Division Three ending in a close-run 4-3 for a ten-man Birds, with departed players Evandro La Face and Phua Ming Xin finding crucial second-half goals. Head coach David Nohales had bought judiciously since then, with adroit buys such as Gao Xiangyun, Felix Freital, Patrik Kojecký and Davizinho Mourão Barbosa accompanying constant improvement, and a return to the second division. Some regulars had stayed on too, most notably Portuguese goalkeeper Pedro Vasco Conceição Correia, who would captain the side at Sweet Science Arena today.
Unfortunately for the home team, it would be
Raúl Himadas to take over, as the Birds enveloped the opposition defence in short order.
Gandhik Chitre was in exceptional form as he rampaged around the Controlar penalty area, and Czech central defender Patrik Kojecký was a foot short and a second late, as he tried to take the ball off the Birds forward in the twelfth minute. This was an easy decision for Swiss referee Adam Witzig to make, and Himadas struck it hard towards Correia's left post for 1-0.
Controlar were actually not doing all that badly otherwise, with Nohales apparently having drilled them well in tracking their man. This system was not equipped to deal with the manifestly unexpected such as
Lim An Keng's scissors kick in the 17th minute, though, which froze all but everybody else. Young Surya Rajkumar finally gave the home fans something to shout about with a silky-smooth sprint up the left after 23 minutes, but
Radomil Marcol denied the finish with a fine dive to tip it aside.
It was back to the Birds, and back to
Raúl Himadas and
Lim An Keng, who would combine for the third goal off a 31st corner - Himadas curling it at the near top corner, Correia batting it aside, and Lim pinging it straight into the net. There would be another near-miss several minutes later as
Ha Qicai got Correia sprawling to stop his strong header from the centre of the box, but Lim would rush his lob high this time.
The home fans would not have time to visit the washroom as Grilled kept up their tempo, and it was all central midfielder Tong Yi Chuan could do to bring
Chia Kwang Tse down and break up a looming Birds advance, in the 36th minute. Unfortunately for Tong, it was for naught as
Aw Keng Chuan took over with a quick free-kick across to the right flank, where
Raúl Himadas underlapped
Brian Reddy's run to eventually make it four.
Aw would be off at half-time as
Tian Yonghang brought
Genki Nagano into the game, as Controlar returned with the determination to at least keep the deficit down, if nothing else. This resolve was manifest in their swarming
Chad Thach's 49th minute strike, which moreover developed into an opportunity at the other end with
Hwang Teck Fu fouling Freital on the counter. Local playmaker Darian David sized up the twenty-yarder, only to lob it weakly over the wall and right to
Radomil Marcol.
The Birds would resume normal service with the home team sitting very deep indeed, and after
Chia Kwang Tse found the crossbar off an abrupt through pass from
Chad Thach in the 59th minute,
Gandhik Chitre would finally get his goal off similar service in the 65th.
Lim An Keng then had an opportunity to claim a third career hat-trick four minutes later, but he entirely missed contact with
Darko Andrović's delivery under no pressure - and Thach would be hustled off the bouncing cross by Swedish defender Håkan Ångwald.
