Cooking Up A Swarm
Return Of A Dragon
Grilled Birds stopped their league winless streak at four matches with a 5-1 home triumph against Controlar, that had
Radomil Marcol possibly the only Birds player not to be fully satisfied after he lost his clean sheet in time added on.
Dan Alstani would further be delighted at there not being any new injury or suspension concerns, though
Ananda Hettiarachchi did blemish his formerly-spotless disciplinary record, with a first yellow card whilst playing for the club.
While Grilled had been performing well in cup competition, their league form left much to be desired, and it was perhaps a blessing that they were hosting Controlar - whose only win in six rounds had been a 5-2 home result against Four Leaf Pandas. Draws against frunzelax and FC Marttaliitto warned of their ability to punish sides not at their best, though, which was something that the Birds could not afford in their current state.
Spanish boss David Nohales would moreover be without Argentine playmaker Iván Lorenzo Drocco, hocked off to Belgium's fc petralia after their 0-4 defeat to West Merlions, which had all too much placed on the slender shoulders of their latest star buy, 22 year-old Faroese winger Dávur í Niðristovu. He would be the visitors' key threat for advancement along with designated wide attacker Gao Xiangyun on the right, this arrangement seeking to isolate
Hisham Zubari against Felix Freital. Midfield wise, the homegrown trio of Tan Keng Kwang, Brad Yuen and Darian David remained a formidable unit in theory, but they simply haven't been able to click in recent times.
Against this, Alstani would not have too many choices to make with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul failing his late fitness test, which had
Lim An Keng rested for the midweek game. The coaching staff would keep faith with former Myanmar international
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko despite a string of high-profile errors, pairing him together with newcomer
Wu Ping De and
Chad Thach to test the supposedly pace-challenged Patrik Kojecký.
The attendance, which fell just short of 40000, reflected the supporters' reduced patience at the team, and Controlar would not do much to help that perception for the first twenty minutes or so, with their rough-and-ready man-marking when not in possession stymieing a ponderous Birds frontline.
Hwang Teck Fu would not get the better of Swedish sweeper Håkan Ångwald until the 25th minute, but Portuguese goalkeeper Pedro Vasco Conceição Correia bailed his defence out with a reflex save then.
This signalled a change of fortunes for Grilled, however, as the visitors only fell deeper into their low block. The Birds might still be finding open chances hard to come by, but they were definitely not being threatened in their own half. The long-awaited breakthrough arrived after 37 minutes thanks to
Chia Kwang Tse cutting in deep on the outside, and flipping the ball back in for the onrushing
Phillip Nagata to volley hard.
Grilled were not letting up after that, and the next minute saw
Genki Nagano blast it exceedingly close to the crossbar from the head of the box, after being left unattended. The attempted quick counter went nowhere, and
Ananda Hettiarachchi racked up another assist with his intuitive cross skipping over for
Hwang Teck Fu to meet.
Chad Thach had one more go from another Nagata center three minutes before the break, but the usually-unflappable forward completely fluffed that one.
Being two up was about as good as the Birds have had it in the league this season, granted, and Thach would make no mistake after slicing his way in from the right side four minutes after the restart, successfully losing Kojecký along the way.
Dan Alstani had been waiting just in case, and he immediately signalled to withdraw
Hisham Zubari as a precaution, allowing
Fu Wenlong on for his first appearance in eleven days.
This in principle was a defensive downgrade, but Controlar were barely getting past the midway line in any case. They did retain bags of individual flair, and a very neat swivel by Darian David lured
Ananda Hettiarachchi into a late tackle 54 minutes in, which earned the latter the only booking of the game from hands-off German referee Mirko Kaisersberger. Hettiarachchi was unperturbed however, and went on to score six minutes later, from yet another cross by the very productive
Phillip Nagata.
That equalled the 4-0 from Controlar's last visit here, and there was little evidence of any belief that they could turn it around by this point. Guarding Nagata was turning out to be a thankless chore for Li Loong Siong in particular, and he could do nothing once Fu doubled up on the outside, some 73 minutes in. Brazilian defender Davizinho Mourão Barbosa nearly got to the pullback, but not quite, and
Chia Kwang Tse had his goal!
Cheers for Alstani would finally return at this, with the embattled head coach looking plainly relieved, as he stood to acknowledge the fans.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko and
Phillip Nagata would come off in the last minute for
Lim An Keng and
Paulino Trindade, which did not prevent
Ananda Hettiarachchi from going ahead with a twenty-yarded, at the crowd's behest. That would spell the end of
Radomil Marcol's flawless record, unfortunately, as Li Loong Siong reclaimed some dignity for his team on the counter.
