Black, White & Green
Yellow Glitter
The Cooking Pot saw Grilled Birds attain victory in their first home league match of the new season in some style, as they sent promotees Four Leaf Pandas packing back to Pasir Ris, with a 6-2 bruising. Freshly-installed Number Nine
Hwang Teck Fu moreover repaid the coaching staff's faith in his ability to retool himself as a centre-forward, with a maiden career hat-trick some weeks before turning thirty.
The Pandas are, by the way, technically a distant successor of the Ultimate NutsZ side that the Birds had butted heads with in the S-League and II.2, way back in the distant mists of history; this latest revival would come decades after two abortive revivals as Access Denied FC, but their institutional experience definitely came in handy. They would achieve back-to-back promotions from Division Five to Division Three, and after a single third-placed finish in III.3, they won the title twice to clamber up to the second division.
Much of this had been credited to young head coach Kwa Jia Ying, who at a mere 33 years of age had been responsible for guiding the club to three league titles. To be fair, he had been amply backed by the board financially too, as when they allowed the S$6.1 million signing of Spanish custodian Santi Ortuzar upon their rising to Division Three. Ortuzar might have moved on, but similar multi-million dollar deals as for Dutch winger Lennaert van Mol, Polish Number One Józef Krygiel and prospective Singapore national forward Kasey Yeo would follow.
The Grilled supporters were not deterred by the ongoing rainy season, with attendance breaking fifty thousand at The Pot despite the non-stop drizzle.
Chad Thach was obviously impatient to start the game as he bounced up and down at the edge of the centre circle waiting for kick-off, and would test Józef Krygiel with his first touch, in the next minute.
Hwang Teck Fu would thrive in these conditions, and he convincingly held off his marker Syamsul Bahri Daniel Hariz 17 minutes in, to open the scoring with a deft right-footed strike, taking the ball on the rise.
The Pandas would raise some drama as they overturned the lead by the half-hour mark, though. Scarcely had Hwang's goal been recorded on the electronic scoreboard, when their Japanese forward Yoshinori Watanabe barged past a stumbling
Genki Nagano to equalize. The heavy ground complicated Grilled's build-up attempt, and Hungarian left winger Alex Ónodi scooted into the space left behind by
Phillip Nagata 30 minutes on, against the run of play. The Grilled defence wasn't ready, and former Team Boba and Young Lion Raihan Azam Hariry slid in on the cross before
Radomil Marcol, to put the visitors in front.
This wasn't what the home crowd had expected, but they would keep their spirits up with some old chants, and equilibrium would be restored within six minutes.
Chad Thach had seemed slightly out of his element wide left, but his killer instincts nonetheless came to the fore, when Lennaert van Mol played it a little too loose in front of him. He took possession and charged up the flank before swinging a more-than-decent cross in, that
Hwang Teck Fu met firmly with his forehead despite Pandas skipper Wang Kwang trying to get in the way. 2-2!
That was how it stayed at the break, but Grilled Birds wouldn't take long to strut their stuff in the next half. The rain had paused some time before, which allowed the Birds to revert to their preferred quick passing on the ground.
Aw Keng Chuan shone in these circumstances, as he converted another neat
Chad Thach assist in the 51st, before sweeping
Phillip Nagata's crisp pass from the other flank four minutes later.
The move had also left Yoshinori Watanabe down with a left hamstring strain after he had tried to catch Nagata, but fortunately for the Pandas contingent, he would be back up and running after prompt medical attention.
Aw Keng Chuan would then be taken off by
Dan Alstani for
Chia Kwang Tse to some disapproval from the crowd, given that Aw was on his hat-trick - but this tactical substitution had clearly been long preplanned.
There was no time to ruminate over the decision either, as Four Leaf Pandas tried to catch Grilled napping again; Kasey Yeo exhibited the sharpshooting that had made him such a fan favourite at Ambush F.C. as a trainee, but his effort was a couple of inches too high, and came off the crossbar. Grilled took the warning seriously, and five minutes later,
Chad Thach upped their lead to 5-2 with a strong downwards header off
Phillip Nagata's scooped cross from the right. It took a bounce off Juhamatti Männikkö's foot, but the Finnish defender certainly wasn't claiming the own goal.
This had the home fans relax a lot more, and the Birds' advantage would be further extended 79 minutes in, as the ever-productive Nagata pinged it inside for Hwang to collect his first career treble. The pile-on would leave Hwang mud-caked, not that he appeared to mind at all. A beaming Alstani then had
Damian Hutter and
Paulino Trindade on right at the end, which had the former nearly grab a seventh goal with his lively shot from just outside the penalty area, in injury time.
