Steady At Home
Hwang Imposition
The Birds ascended to the top of the II.2 table after five rounds, with today's 4-0 home win against Batok Earthquakes' attempted resistance. While this might not have been too unexpected from the visitors' less-than-stellar record so far this season, the relative ease in which it was accomplished may bode well for Grilled's ongoing ambitions.
Venerable Earthquakes head coach Lokmalhakim bin Abu Shah had brought in some new blood after dispensing with Kenyan international fullback Kapuki Oyoo last season, first replacing him with young prodigy Jaali Ndunge - also from Kenya, and then spending S$2 million for Yew Tea's academy star Adam Upper. Both started in a four-man midfield today, with the remainder of the team being something of a hodgepodge, including as it did 37 year-old Egyptian long-timer Abd El Galil El Batran as lone forward and similarly-aged Cambodian legend Khemera Luu at right wing, together with mid-career players such as Niko Antikainen and Muhammad Hairulnizam Shamsuddin.
Grilled would be assured enough to rotate their men, with
Ananda Hettiarachchi and
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko again getting exposure as defenders, with
Genki Nagano and
Hisham Zubari shifted up to midfield.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul returned to a pivot role with
Lim An Keng rested for the cup, and
Chia Kwang Tse would start at left forward despite concerns about bruised ribs sustained during a Friday training session.
This would be one of those games where there were no mysteries about what each team wanted to do, which for the Earthquakes was to catch Grilled on the counter. Unfortunately for them, they did not quite have the quality to mix it up as more-successful exponents of such tactics had, and left the Birds with few problems addressing their one-dimensional tack. Grilled took their time searching for a good opening, with the first one arriving in the thirteenth minute after
Phillip Nagata's dribble had finally pulled the Earthquakes backline out of kilter.
Wu Ping De wound up for the volley, but the power he put on it was not matched by accuracy.
That was not an issue for Grilled, who simply went on with their business, and they duly went ahead in the 23rd minute through a straightforward
Mohd Marzuki Khairul grounder, after a series of recycled passing moves up the centre. Wu then ballooned another okay chance three minutes later, before the match was stopped for Kuval Puri's right foot to be looked at, after
Chad Thach accidentally trod on it while turning. It didn't look good, and the centreback was taken off for Palestinean trainee Zyad Khabbaza.
The Birds weren't about to be generous while on a single goal lead, and the contested drop ball was charged down to much disapproval by the travelling fans. Hwang's attempt was blocked a fair distance by Raimondo, however, and the ensuing breakaway was about as good as the Earthquakes would have all day. Muhammad Hairulnizam Shamsuddin raced clear of both
Phillip Nagata and
Ananda Hettiarachchi to expose the Birds for once, but Abd El Galil El Batran's loss of a yard of pace meant that he could only muster an awkward shot over the bar, when a younger version would probably have troubled Marcol at least.
Hwang Teck Fu then took over for the rest of the half as he zeroed in on the inexperienced Khabbaza, and the Birds Number Nine made it 2-0 in the 38th minute again from standard if sustained pass routines at the head of the opposition penalty area. He would then fire narrowly over after good thinking by
Hisham Zubari on the next prolonged build-up, before getting carded for bowling Adam Upper over on a beefy challenge for the incoming goal kick.
Earthquakes started the second half with 39 year-old Ong Rong Jing on for 19 year-old Loh Huat Woon, as Lokmalhakim evidently deemed the game another lost cause. If he was banking on Ong's cooler head to settle the defence, though, that did actually happen to an extent - but gave up a fair bit of mobility in exchange.
Hwang Teck Fu certainly recognized that as he switched to standing off, and a well-considered rush about the 57th minute left him uncontested as he blasted his second goal past Raimondo.
Grilled's fourth and final goal came ten minutes later, and it was Hwang's turn to come up with the assist, as he paraded his footballing range before the adoring home crowd. Not much of the Birds' original formation had been preserved with their players floating where they liked, with Ananda and Hein for example often pushing into the Earthquakes box. They then could hardly be faulted for not noticing Hwang double up on the right together with Nagata, which led to his sliding it across to
Chia Kwang Tse to finish from five yards.
That was as much as the Birds support could want, surely, and
Dan Alstani would be seen signalling for his men to take things down a notch, understandable with the Singapore Cup quarterfinals against FC Marttaliitto to consider. The visitors weren't about to press their case too hard either, and the action had mostly petered out by the time Alstani made his triple substitution of Trindade, Fu and Hutter on at the end, which had
Genki Nagano meaningfully affix his armband on a proud
Hwang Teck Fu before he went off.
