Jurong Spirit
Zubari Attending
The first meeting between Grilled Birds and rising Jurong club FC Jurong Rovers ended 5-3 in favour of the oldies, but from the looks of it, Rovers do have what it takes to develop into a legitimate threat. Their first taste of Division Two had not been kind to them, and it may take some time before Ukrainian boss Olexiy Gubiy will be able to establish them at this level.
There would be a relatively-modest crowd of about forty-four thousand for the event, not helped by Rovers' less-than-impressive recent results. Gubiy kept with his offensively-biased lineup boasting flagship strikers Breel Gatt and Khalfan Al-Mukhaithi, with Hong Konger Woo Jieyong relegated to cup duty together with Hervé Condamine. Canadian veteran Eugen Wallau had the unenviable task of keeping Grilled's own forwards at bay, with Serbian goalkeeper Petar Panović having a lot to do this season too.
In Rovers' defence, away fixtures against Marine Parade Kings and United Legends FC made for one of the toughest starts in II.2, before considering the difficulty of scoring against a visiting Batok Earthquakes team that had a point on their minds. Their supporters weren't willing to wait much longer, and for a while it seemed that their luck had changed; Panović saved a certain-looking header by
Chia Kwang Tse in the second minute, and Al-Mukhaithi then opened with a miraculous volley from next to nothing, eight minutes in.
They felt like they might hold it too, with Petar Panović playing out of his skin with more top-drawer stops - first one-on-one against
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko, and then twisting in mid-air to block
Hwang Teck Fu's knuckleball in the 23rd. Even he could not keep it up indefinitely, however, and
Mohd Marzuki Khairul had magic of his own too, in splitting the Rovers backline on a direct 27th minute dribble that had him seem to ghost through Wallau.
Rovers would not be able to hold on following that, and they went behind in the very next minute from a
Hisham Zubari special from the edge of the penalty area, after
Hwang Teck Fu played it back for him to take a punt. Hwang was playing his part as a human battering ram very well indeed, and he finished it himself ten minutes later with
Mason Glendinning serving as a foil.
The hosts composed themselves during the interval, and came out every bit a changed team. Grilled Birds found themselves forced back by Rovers' frenzied if not especially sound attacks, and were rocked by Wallau's toepoke finish in the 54th. Things might have gotten extremely interesting had Anatolio da Parafita pulled the trigger earlier eleven minutes on, but
Wu Ping De managed to herd him aside, and it was instead
Hisham Zubari with his first brace for Grilled, off Chia's timely assist.
It was back to the Birds shaking it up, and
Mason Glendinning repaid his coaches' faith in him with his maiden league goal - and a calm chip over Panović at that. Grilled then slowed the game down, secure in their three-goal advantage, and they could indeed afford giving another up to Jordan Bondin deep into stoppage time.
