Mart Big Open
Bogdan Finnish
Dan Alstani would suffer a loss in his much-awaited league debut in charge of Grilled Birds, but it was hardly a poor display at FC Marttaliitto, who had just been relegated from the S-League for the second time in three seasons. Farmer Bunnies would remember just how dominant they were in II.3 in between, though, though they did manage their signature nil-all draw at this ground back then.
There would not be too many changes for Yosi Lochinov's team, though he himself had just taken over a few months before. Guatemalan star winger Alex Lascano had been let go for some S$8.7 million about concurrent with his appointment, along with a S$1.4 million windfall for exceptional trainee Rusydi Sofian Amin about a month back. Veteran attackers Martin Üres and Gunin Uniyal had arrived shortly before Lascano's takeover, though Mongolian international Maidar Gombo would be an unexpected no-show, after he pulled his hamstring very late into Friday's World Cup first round defeat to Trinidad & Tobago.
Lochinov was known for his flexibility in making the most of FC Marttaliitto's deep squad, fortunately for them, and their Finnish midfield core of Bogdan Karyagin, Tommi Törnström and Teemu Heikkuri had them always a credible threat to contest midfield. 34 year-old Indian striker Uniyal would rub shoulders with
Hisham Zubari, while 37 year-old ex-Iranian national sweeper Ehsan Chahar Rahi captained the team just in front of Colombian custodian Gildardo Bambague.
This was a very experienced and decorated eleven, and if there had to be any criticism about it, it would have to be that some of the key pieces were not getting any younger. The 33 year-old Martin Üres had always paid such talk little mind, and from how he glided up the left wing in the eighth minute against several men some years his junior, there had to be some truth in his approach. Zubari tried to stick with Uniyal as best as he could, but the latter made space for himself at the critical instant by suddenly backing into the defender with his upper body strength, which got him enough room to rear up for his successful header past
Radomil Marcol from seven yards.
Grilled were stroking the ball about quite comfortably when they had it, however, and
Phillip Nagata would make up for not tracking Üres with his own fine finish in the 15th minute, on
Hwang Teck Fu's canny swing over to the right wing.
Chad Thach then swept it across to
Lim An Keng - who shot right at Bambague, alas - three minutes later, with Üres then personally testing Marcol with a solid drive mid-run, 23 minutes in.
Genki Nagano was first there to clear, and Gunin Uniyal would be booked for arriving at the scene too late... and two-footed.
The rest of the first half would have the Birds sniffing about the edges, but the hosts' 3-5-2 got the better of most of their approaches. Their only chance of note came about the 36th minute, when
Aw Keng Chuan went direct to
Hwang Teck Fu, who got the better of Rahi for once. The shot was slightly awkward and parried by Bambague, and although
Lim An Keng held Fernando Daniel Marco off to claim the rebound, his own attempt would careen off the far post with Bambague getting his angles just right.
FC Marttaliitto were probably the happier team when Dutch referee Stijn Knoops stopped the match for half-time, and the game would continue in a very deliberate and careful manner. This was evidently not to
Dan Alstani's taste, and he would make the first tactical change of the day on the hour, switching the defensively-oriented
Aw Keng Chuan off for
Chia Kwang Tse.
The impact was immediate, as
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko's long throw reached
Chad Thach hanging out smack in the middle of the opposition half. Thach had both
Lim An Keng and Hwang calling and reasonably available ahead of him, but he would dribble it up himself in search of a higher-probability pass. The defenders would dutifully stay on the backs of the fowards, and Thach instead found himself skipping past Tommi Törnström on his way inside the penalty area, before chipping Bambague with his left foot because why not?
That had Grilled Birds ahead, but the lead lasted all of three minutes. FC Marttaliitto had not imposed themselves overly, which had been frustrating their home support, but Portuguese forward Manuel Amado Martinho's advance up the right would soon catch the eye. The ball kept returning him as he tried several times to distribute it, and he wound up scuttling
Genki Nagano on the outside with touchline control that would make any winger proud.
Radomil Marcol planted himself with a few Marttaliitto attackers filling in behind him, but Martinho didn't need anybody with his delectable curler that nestled into the opposite goalpost!
This was 2-2, and the entire stadium would be sitting straight up now, with the promise of a very meaningful final twenty-five minutes to come. The game was extremely finely balanced now, which had the Marttaliitto fans concerned when Italian winger Matteo Sciamanna got his standing leg clipped by
Chad Thach in the 69th minute.
The advantage was correctly played by the referee with the crossfield pass already in mid-air, and it was cushioned gracefully by Martin Üres - who then nutmegged
Chia Kwang Tse before the Grilled man knew what was happening. He then got a little too excited with a lobbed attempt at goal, which
Radomil Marcol caught and threw out to
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko. The Myanmar playmaker went for the same, if much better, and Gildardo Bambague had to sprint back to only just block it from crossing the goalline.
Phillip Nagata slid in on the follow-up, but local national fullback Koh Chi Leng did excellently to put Nagata off the final contact.
There was hardly time to breathe as the players threw off their last restraints now, and it would be FC Marttaliitto to emerge victorious from the resulting duke-out. Gaps began to open with the teams running overheated, but more so on the Birds' end, as they allowed Törnström's through pass for Bogdan Karyagin to be completed, 76 minutes in.
Aw Keng Chuan tried to hold the midfielder back, but was thrown off by the power of his acceleration, as Karyagin slammed the winner home.
