Four On The Ground
Chia Non Grata
Grilled Birds' revival continued with a 4-0 thumping of Batok Earthquakes at Ground Zero for their seventh straight victory, which had much of the commentary centered about Birds forward
Chia Kwang Tse - both for his goal and his mowing down of home favourite Khemera Luu. The derby was otherwise everything that the Grilled fans wanted, as the season nears its conclusion.
The teams' previous meeting this season saw Luu cancel
Chad Thach's opener towards a 1-1 draw at The Cooking Pot, with there being minimal changes from the hosts. Earthquakes gaffer Lokmalhakim bin Abu Shah had moved Kenyan international Kapuki Oyoo and local veteran Phua Long Feng on at the beginning of the month, replacing Oyoo with the blockbuster S$5 million signing of 17 year-old prodigy Jaali Ndunge - who would start on the bench today. The reshuffle would see Loh Huat Woon moved up to winger, and national U-20 prospect Chew Aik Keong return to the fold.
Dan Alstani kept with what had been working swimmingly for the Birds, which meant
Lim An Keng to wait his turn once more, and
Aw Keng Chuan to be rested for a more-attacking midfield composed of
Ananda Hettiarachchi,
Mohd Marzuki Khairul and
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko. Marzuki had first bite at the cherry in the ninth minute from a follow-up attack, but his looping topspin-heavy strike would be gathered at the post by Earthquakes custodian Marco Raimondo.
The Earthquakes supporters sounded confident of bettering their result from the last meeting, and had every reason for that as they broke through on a counter in the 18th minute, after
Chad Thach knocked it onto the woodwork. Khemera Luu was the engine as he raced up the middle, releasing it to Kuval Puri, who however struck the bar too. It was only after the ball had been cleared, that the referee noticed that Luu had been on the wrong end of a studs-up challenge by the covering
Chia Kwang Tse.
The atmosphere got rather hostile after replays of the incident, and a red card seemed likely for Chia, especially after Luu had to be stretchered off in agony. Referee Jean-Michel Hunsperger settled for a yellow to the disbelief of the home faithful, though, and the whistling had yet to abate when Grilled went ahead four minutes later.
Ananda Hettiarachchi had really grown into his role as Grilled's creator of last resort, and he would scoop it over Ong Rong Jing's attempted block for Marzuki to fire home.
New teenaged Yemeni signing Ameen Ameen made up in intensity what he lacked in experience on defence, and the focus soon shifted back to the Earthquakes, who manufactured a winger's duel of Loh Huat Woon against
Wu Ping De in the 26th minute. Loh won it, but then overran the ball trying to get a good angle on the cross. Two minutes later,
Hwang Teck Fu silenced the hosts when he shrugged off man-marker Quek Pin Ze, to ram a second goal past Raimondo from just inside the penalty area.
That said, it could have been a lot worse had it not been for the goalkeeper's efforts, and the first twenty minutes of the second half saw Raimondo stop at least four clear attempts on goal. Two of them would be top-drawer free-kicks by
Fu Wenlong, who did everything right each time only to watch the swarthy Italian custodian leap across to catch it with his fingertips.
Phillip Nagata likewise had a crashing effort clawed over in the 64th minute, that was soon followed by a block off the always-threatening Hwang.
Raimondo's fortune and skill only lasted so far, however, as the goal that the Earthquakes fans had been most dreading finally arrived.
Chia Kwang Tse had been booed throughout since injuring Luu, and there would be no exception when he had the ball rolled across towards him by
Chad Thach 67 minutes in. There was a brief pause between Niko Antikainen and Marco Raimondo as they both waited for the other to deal with it, and Chia would not pass up the opportunity in sliding it home.
This was an unpopular goal indeed, but Earthquakes had bigger problems of their own, as the Birds continued to press them deep into their own half.
Hwang Teck Fu had been a constant thorn in their side with his unabashedly physical approach, often even defending from the front. While Quek Pin Ze was no wallflower himself, the young central defender would quickly regret trying to force his way past Hwang with the ball, after finding himself bumped off it - with the scoreline then becoming 4-0.
