Level Earth
Luu Young Again
Grilled Birds stumbled into a home draw against Batok Earthquakes, that at least nipped their two-game league losing streak in the bud. The decline in pre-season confidence was evident in the relatively-low attendance of just over thirty-three thousand for a derby at The Cooking Pot today, though, and honestly speaking, this might have been barely worth the ticket price for the still-suffering home fans.
Batok Earthquakes had something to prove too, with a 0-4 wipe by FC Marttaliitto last Sunday followed by a disappointing 1-4 upset defeat to III.16 challengers Marsiling, that saw them tumble out of the Sapphire Challenger Cup. Niko Antikainen's free-kick prowess saw them go ahead despite head coach Lokmalhakim bin Abu Shah's conspicuous absence, but the 78 year-old club icon would be back on the touchline today, overseeing his usual 5-4-1 that had Egyptian striker Abd El Galil El Batran alone up top. A 23 year-old Muhammad Hairulnizam Shamsuddin returned to midfield, with Kenyan international Kapuki Oyoo still nursing a calf strain.
Much of the visitors' output would then have to come from longtime star right winger Phua Long Feng, who would have
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko assigned to him for today's operation.
Fu Wenlong made his third start in place of usual captain
Genki Nagano, which did little to hush whispers of underperformance amongst the supporters.
Ananda Hettiarachchi would be rewarded for his consistency with the midfield pivot role, and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's rehabilitation after last season's plunge in form appears complete, with his deployment once more to right forward.
Everyone knew what this game was going to be long before kick-off, and the Birds were not about to be patient, knowing the typical chance-to-goal conversion rate against such opposition.
Chad Thach made to give the Earthquakes' intentional low block something to think about with an attempt from outside the box in the fourth minute, that had Marco Raimondo unperturbed as it rolled to the wrong side of his covered left post. Two minutes later,
Radomil Marcol had to actually get involved at the Grilled end, in parrying Phua Long Feng's spirited drive on a Chew Aik Keong breakthrough.
It was soon clear that Batok Earthquakes were ready to extract a price for any committed Birds offensive, as they calibrated their responses with admirable precision.
Hwang Teck Fu's 21st minute effort would bring a long ball out to Abd El Galil El Batran, for example, with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul working the field to little impact. Marzuki would then receive a chipped free-kick from
Fu Wenlong after 31 minutes, but his attempted centering brought only another counterattack, that centreback Niko Antikainen fortunately could not put much on, after an extended sprint.
The breakthrough came immediately afterwards, as Grilled Birds demonstrated that they knew a thing or two about breakaways too. The Earthquakes had spread themselves relatively thin for once, and
Ananda Hettiarachchi would find himself as the focal point of a flowing move back down the middle. This concluded with a well-weighted through ball for
Chad Thach as
Lim An Keng peeled Quek Pin Ze off the other way with a clever off-the-ball run, and Thach needed no second invitation to crack it low past Marco Raimondo, who did come close to making the save.
Chia Kwang Tse ended the half with a yellow card after bringing Muhammad Hairulnizam Shamsuddin down in the 38th minute, from which one could imagine the youngster's potential. The Birds resumed the second half with no change in the overall gameplan, and would soon regret it as
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko capped a superb 57th minute push with a good flat volley... that Raimondo somehow kept out. Mohd Sharbinee Azmil spearheaded the counter on their less-worked left wing with
Phillip Nagata nowhere to be found, and Cambodian legend Khemera Luu polished it off on the overlap!
That had the visiting fans up and screaming in their section, as the cameras expectedly swung to zero in on the under-pressure
Dan Alstani - who kept his expression neutral. Meanwhile, his players would try to set the record straight back on the field, with acting skipper
Lim An Keng trying to set an example himself, only to have the goalkeeper cut him off mid-dribble. That looked like a possible penalty, but young Swiss referee Vivian Santiago deigned to even give a second glance, and Grilled Birds had to endure some stressful seconds before Chew Aik Keong struck it wide in a one-on-one.
This would be a stark reminder of how vulnerable Grilled could be on the defensive end, and Alstani decided to mitigate risks with the defensive like-for-like substitution of
Damian Hutter in for
Aw Keng Chuan, 70 minutes in. The change came soon after
Phillip Nagata's impressive solo dribble inside, but Batok Earthquakes had clogged the box up, and it was all Nagata could do to whip it high - and have it come back off the bar.
Time was running out, and Lokmalhakim bin Abu Shah gave it a helping hand with nine minutes left, in taking Chew off for veteran supersub Lim Cheng Hui. This might have been their downfall as the Birds chained together a rare attacking combination on the restart, but it was simply not
Hwang Teck Fu's day, as his improvisation off
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko's surprise ball was still not enough to take Marco Raimondo unawares.
