New Stop Nine
Aw Denied
Jurong Derby rivals newbies are newbies attained their fifteenth win against Grilled Birds, breaking the latter's ongoing winning streak at eight matches at their own home ground. It was well-deserved too, to the grudging resignation of the Birds faithful at The Cooking Pot, with newbies almost completely dominating the first half to start with.
newbies were of course on a bit of a run themselves, having followed up their 3-3 draw against Four Leaf Pandas, with convincing if narrow victories versus Batok Earthquakes, Controlar and frunzelax in the league. 32 year-old forward Chen Meng Heng had moreover achieved the rare feat of a brace in all three of those games, which made him the man to watch entering this match. Au Kong Su would partner him instead of Zhong Kim Tse, who dropped back into midfield today. National U-20 hopeful Aw Da Hui returned to the bench, with veteran Italian custodian Romeo Gasparroni returning to the lineup.
Dan Alstani professed to have considered the likely heavy conditions from the seasonal showers in making his picks, though the selections of
Hwang Teck Fu and
Chad Thach came as no surprise.
Chia Kwang Tse was the third forward, as Alstani went for his declared preferred all-around midfield with
Aw Keng Chuan as the anchor. The Number Four would go on to have a quite extraordinary day, but it alas remained insufficient to get Grilled the points.
The hype over Chen Meng Heng turned out to be understated if anything, as he took just four minutes to rattle the crossbar from a wickedly-swerving free-kick from outside the right corner of the penalty area - and that was just him getting started. newbies had definitely stolen the pace here with the Birds looking slightly complacent on the ball, and despite
Radomil Marcol blocking a strong drive by Au Kong Su two minutes later, none of his defenders were there to bail him out as Chen shoved his way inside to tidy up for the lead.
All eyes returned to Hwang and Thach as the home fans bayed for an equalizer, and come it did - but not through those two. They were probably the reason that
Aw Keng Chuan had as much space as he did approaching the head of the box with the ball, that said, and by the time Gregor Epplen realized that Aw was well within shooting range, it was too late. The Birds midfield ace opened up his stride into taking on the shot, and guided it past Gasparroni to the far corner with unparalleled precision.
The momentum still belonged to newbies however, as they challenged Grilled's players successfully on the whole.
Genki Nagano would again be shown up for pace as Zhong Kim Tse slipped a through ball with backspin inside for Chen in the sixteenth minute, and it was only
Radomil Marcol's quick reactions that allowed him to slide in and clear. There was nothing for it two minutes later when Au Kong Su found his way inside, sadly, and it was 2-1 newbies.
The remaining half-hour or so of the half would maintain the tempo but not have anything to match the previous chances, with the visitors still having the better of the game on balance. Chen continued being the main threat and keeping Genki on edge, but the Birds captain acquitted himself quite well in one-on-ones. newbies continued pushing with resolve, and went further into the lead 53 minutes in, as Ghani Zakwan took over from a collective assault after
Hisham Zubari had stopped Au in his tracks.
newbies could have left Grilled in the dust had Gregor Epplen managed to keep his volley down in the 60th minute, what with it sailing well outside
Radomil Marcol's reach, and there was much relief from the stands when it whistled just over the crossbar. The Birds were unable to respond in kind despite that escape, with their strikers having been quite disappointing all day. Few could fault
Aw Keng Chuan from trying to do it himself as he received the ball unmarked about five yards outside the box in the 67th, but this time he would curl it comically overhead.
It looked like newbies were going to cruise to the win as they continued stroking the ball around amongst themselves, but this relative lack of focus would be their undoing five minutes from time.
Ananda Hettiarachchi had a good eye for the direction of the game as he suddenly kicked it up a gear against Zakwan, allowing a straight race between
Hwang Teck Fu and Gregor Epplen towards goal. Hwang pulled a great move as he toed the ball square instead of at goal upon reaching it first, and while there would be debate over whether that was intentional, its effectiveness was beyond doubt seeing as it left Aw with the simplest of tap-ins.
The home crowd were well up for a rally now, and the cheering would barely subside even when Chen Meng Heng threatened Marcol's goal with a credibly-close lob from over twenty-five yards, seconds after the restart. A final triple sub had
Lim An Keng,
Fu Wenlong and
Kendell El Khateeb run on to try and conjure soemthing up, and they nearly had it when
Phillip Nagata beat his man to play
Aw Keng Chuan through deep in stoppage time - but former national fullback Harry Chong made himself a newbies hero with his airtight coverage, refusing the shot attempt.
