Four Then Lax
Fu In The House
Grilled Birds will enter the Singapore Cup semifinals on ten straight competitive wins, as they took home a 4-2 from East Coast hosts frunzelax, who had been on a three-win streak themselves. Few had this as a gimme for the Birds from how their only league loss had been to Marine Parade Kings away, while holding United Legends FC to a 2-2 draw. Grilled made light of those projections by building a commanding four-goal lead, however, before taking their foot off the pedal.
The chatter behind Grilled's cup exploits had contributed to a near-packed stadium for the fixture, as frunzelax looked to repeat their 5-2 victory on this ground last season. French head coach Chadi Selawi was certainly not shying away as he set up an attacking 3-4-3, which had star South African signing Edgar Busby as the main draw on the right wing, excepting of course their self-raised frontline headed by national forward Jayadevan Satarkar.
Dan Alstani stayed with his rotation of
Hisham Zubari and
Genki Nagano into midfield, with
Hwang Teck Fu a notable absence - declared as due to suspension concerns.
Lim An Keng started on the left together with the unlikely defensive pairing of
Ananda Hettiarachchi and
Fu Wenlong, as latest buy
Johann Schwietzer sat on the bench.
Pundits had reported a lack of stamina towards the end of the game as one of this frunzelax team's biggest issues, and 35 year-old English skipper James Gill certainly seemed to have taken it to heart, from how he deliberately controlled the pace from the start. Their extra man in defence in the form of Mozambique fullback Licínio da Conceição further helped to keep
Phillip Nagata down, but all this was for naught when Isaia Matrisciano caught
Mohd Marzuki Khairul with a stray elbow in the 21st minute. It did look unintentional, but Spanish referee Bernat Llansó went by the book.
Fu Wenlong took charge, and sent it past Chilean custodian Jorge Catriman for his first league goal for the Birds - and their 3500th in total.
Pradeep Karivardhan and Loh Hui Yun watched concernedly from the dugout as frunzelax suffered for their lack of the ball, with Grilled Birds securing most of the initiative and picking their chances sitting on the ball in midfield. One of those would be called by
Hisham Zubari after 32 minutes, as he found himself free just outside the box.
Chia Kwang Tse duly spread it across for Zubari, whose rocket of a strike couldn't be held onto by Catriman - which made it two-nil!
The hosts were well and truly shaken now, to the dismay of Selawi and the home fans, and Grilled rolled up the first half with wave after wave of dangerous offensives. A third goal was always coming after
Chad Thach's extremely close shave in the 37th minute and Catriman's excellent save from
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko's lob three minutes later, and it arrived in the 42nd minute after
Lim An Keng's sweet one-two with Chia bypassed Felix Mporogomyi completely. Catriman would again get a touch on Lim's finish, but it was once more insufficient as the shot clanked into the netting.
3-0 at half-time was more than what most Grilled supporters could have hoped for, all the more from an alternative lineup with an important cup game in mind, but it would only get better.
Phillip Nagata had not been especially active before, what with frunzelax having devoted resources specifically towards shackling him, but he would finally get his moment in the 51st minute with a straightfoward push-and-run through the backline.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul saw what was happening, and his concurrent rush won him a one-on-one with the goalkeeper... and Grilled's fourth goal.
This would however also unleash two minutes of fury from the embarassed home team, who belatedly struck back from the restart. Loh Jia Fu was seen animatedly exhorting his fellows as he carried the ball to the centre circle, and frunzelax responded with a mass advance... seemingly intercepted by Nagata on the right. Not so fast, however, as Licínio da Conceição executed a must-win sliding tackle on the winger, allowing Walter Morán to race unhindered down the flank. James Gill would find himself with plenty of time and space as the unsettled Birds defence floundered, and he found
Radomil Marcol's bottom right corner with a pinpoint drive.
It was then 4-2 after another minute, as frunzelax re-summoned the self-belief that had seen them emerge as early title challengers. They had seldom managed to get into full flow today, but Busby's thundering up the right wing was quite a sight, whilst being roared on by the reinvigorated attendees.
Ananda Hettiarachchi went up together with Alexandru Cozma for the header after Da Conceição helped the initial cross back inside, but lost out from an inferior position.
Fu Wenlong tried to protest an apparent touch against Cozma's arm, but didn't win any sympathy from the match officials.
frunzelax remained two goals adrift, however, and this was about as close as they got, in terms of contesting Grilled's lead. Grilled Birds would be a lot more careful in approaching the rest of the match, and the hosts were unable to threaten
Radomil Marcol's goalmouth again. It was instead Grilled who came closest to pulling further away in the 66th minute, as Hein bent in a pacy cross from the right.
Mohd Marzuki Khairul managed to get something on it, but couldn't get his bearings on with Matrisciano breathing down his neck.
