Last Chuckle For Now
Ananda Salvation
Joker 9 knew that they were going down before today's kick-off at Aljunied Bridge, but it remained something of an irony that the one to give them that final push would be new Birds midfielder
Ananda Hettiarachchi, who came up with the winning goal on his league debut. It had been the usual freewheeling display before that as the hosts took the lead thrice, but
Chia Kwang Tse would keep Grilled close, before the masterstroke.
This concluded Joker 9's latest seven-season tenure in II.2, in which they achieved their highest finish of fourth place twice, the latest just last year. And truth be told, pundits had expected much better from a squad that contained the likes of former U-20 starlets Chan Jian Jian and Tay Fu Yew, both of whom are just entering their prime at 27 years of age. To this, the Jokers had a strong supporting cast including Vibhav Singh and prospective new youth international Haron Mohd Osman - but all this had just gotten them a single league victory, if against newbies are newbies, all season.
If they were going to beat Grilled Birds, however, then this was as good an opportunity as any, from how
Tian Yonghang had been revising his personnel and tactics. Former skipper Ha Qicai, Brian Reddy and Gandhik Chitre were missing from the lineup that had barely tamed them 5-4 at The Cooking Pot several months ago, and it was hard to claim that this XI was superior, if only due to reduced familiarity. The Birds' new players would all be deployed in what Tian has said to be his preferred positions for them, though, which made this fixture a must-watch for Grilled fans wanting a glimpse into the team's probable future.
It was hard to miss a comparative lack of combativeness on the visitors' end, with Grilled having expressed their intent to avoid injury as far as possible, to avoid more of their men sharing
Lim An Keng's fate. The Birds Number Eight would be in the stands, having failed a late fitness test, but not by enough to prevent him from leaping at
Chad Thach's excellent third-minute effort. Jens-Harald Schimmelpfennig batted the power-packed drive aside, unfortunately, and that led to Chan Jian Jian depositing it into
Radomil Marcol's net at the other end withing seconds.
The Jokers had Mario Schumpbach to thank for his pinpoint earlyu cross from deep then, and the Swiss veteran nearly had a twofer, as he knocked it short to Hans-Ulrich Rehn on his very next possession. Rehn wasn't far away with his curler from the left edge of the penalty area either! Something of a lull followed with
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko shown a yellow by young Dutch referee Didier Adema seemingly more to impose his authority than anything, and the Myanmar national would prepare a protest, before thinking better of it.
Not too much happened between that card in the twelfth minute and
Chia Kwang Tse's equalizer in the 23rd, which emerged out of a routine-looking advance up the middle. There was nothing ordinary about Chia's lightning-quick rush past three defenders, that said, and it woke the match right back up.
Paulino Trindade swung it in to
Hwang Teck Fu the very next minute, but Hwang was thrown off by Ariel Maceiras' presence, which left
Genki Nagano to chase the bounce. Jens-Harald Schimmelpfennig was closer, alas, and collapsed onto the loose ball before Genki could arrive.
This was when Grilled were at their most vulnerable, as it happened, and a spiffy long throw out to Avelino Franco on the left had the Portuguese defender realize that
Paulino Trindade had pushed way beyond him, on the previous attack. It was thus essentially two against nobody for a large part of his charge up the left flank, which would conclude with Hans-Ulrich Rehn holding off a lagging
Hisham Zubari to put it past Marcol.
The Jokers looked good for a consolation victory as they held on with assurance for the next forty-plus minutes through half-time, with the Birds often being let down by a lack of compatibility. They did follow
Tian Yonghang's orders to focus their efforts down the middle to a tee, though, and
Chia Kwang Tse reaped the rewards in the 69th minute, off another intelligent probe of the opposition backline at just the right instant. Seif Hassaab couldn't switch from his current assignment quickly enough, and Chia's crack to the far bottom corner made it 2-2.
That lapse shook the 19 year-old Hassaab up, and he would be a fraction late in his following tackle on
Phillip Nagata, which got him a third yellow for the season. The distraction was just what the Jokers needed, as it turned out, as Chan Jian Jian exploded on the rejected free-kick, and blasted his team's third goal hard into the net. Grilled wouldn't dally on their third reply to the home fans' dismay, as
Chad Thach got his approach onto Nagata's low pass exactly right two minutes on, and swept it high over Schimmelpfennig before the goalkeeper could adjust.
It was beginning to dawn on the home support that Grilled were perhaps not as generous as they initially seemed, as their 79th minute strike off the boot of Tay Fu Yew boomeranged off the crossbar, with
Paulino Trindade left grounded after straining his back. Trindade would recover soon enough as the Birds weent back on the warpath, and it was none other than
Ananda Hettiarachchi to notch up the winning fourth goal, as
Hwang Teck Fu slid aside for the new midfielder to show his talents.
