Last Parade
Thach And Go
Grilled Birds will enter the Singapore Cup final on the back of their twelfth competitive win, as they saw off recent leaders Marine Parade Kings 5-2 at a mostly-occupied The Cooking Pot. Over eighty-six thousand watched as a ten-man Birds rallied from behind to decisively put the Kings away in the second half, which should bode well for their bid at glory.
Dan Alstani had always been willing to take a punt, and thus was it today as he started
Mason Glendinning and
Kendell El Khateeb, as last done against FC Jurong Rovers. Both would be at forward today flanking
Chad Thach, who would however not last the first half-hour. The Kings came into the fixture on the back of a big league win over newbies are newbies, though it might be noted that they had been whipped 0-6 by United Legends FC the week before that - a Legends side that Grilled had of course just so dramatically bested in the cup semifinals.
Swedish head coach Lasse Ericsson shifted to a 3-5-2 for today's trip, which entailed pulling striker Sebastiano Benigni for an extra defender in Portuguese fullback Arlindo Unas. Taiwanese playmaker Zhang Qiyao would also return for Enrique Zavala, who returned to the bench. As for Grilled, Reserve custodian
Dahan Bok started in goal on his 27th birthday with
Fu Wenlong and
Ananda Hettiarachchi in defence, a choice that could not be said to be too ungenerous to the visitors.
The Kings' counterattacking tactics soon bore fruit as Grilled took time to find their footing, as the new-look attack boasted plenty of running but was short on understanding.
Chad Thach appeared exasperated at how his colleagues were not on the same wavelength, and a clearance from György Aradi in the fifteenth minute saw Fu caught out by the flat bounce. Dutchman Alex Blom would push past him in a flash, and
Dahan Bok could not get near the excellent screamer.
That heated the Grilled team right up, and Thach would have them back all square two minutes later, as he went it himself with a delectable right-footer bent hard to Ahmad Al-Arab's right post. Italian referee Procopio Magon would not take kindly to Thach's removal of his jersey in celebration, though that might have been a mere footnote had the Number Ten not felled Stefan Rahmby in the 29th minute - before realising to his horror as to what his sending-off meant.
Thach would almost be in tears as he was led off, and the Birds would suffer another blow soon afterwards, as the Kings countered a free-kick off the crossbar by
Fu Wenlong. Grilled were hopelessly outnumbered as they stormed upfield in strength, with Zhang pushing a furious pace up the middle.
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko could not hold him off as several outlets presented themselves, and Zhang would thread it left for the unmarked Tiziano Lauri, after Ananda was forced to go at him - and the Kings led again.
It looked precarious for Grilled, who were getting outhustled by Marine Parade Kings, but not for much longer as it turned out.
Lim An Keng rose to the occasion as he had against the Legends in extra time, even as much of the prerequisite work was done by
Hein Thiha Pyae Ko and
Hisham Zubari. The former would cap the move with a magnificently-weighted lob into the Kings' penalty area, and Lim got a step on Gael Delgado in the resulting dash to nod stylishly home for 2-2.
The Birds did have a commanding possession advantage of over 70% to fall back on, and Alstani would not skint on giving the team every chance he could, with his double substitution at half-time. Hein would be withdrawn for
Chia Kwang Tse, having not contributed overly despite his assist, while
Kendell El Khateeb didn't seem too disappointed to hand his job over to
Mohd Marzuki Khairul. Marine Parade Kings continued to hold out for the next fifteen minutes, which had Alstani use his final substitution for
Wu Ping De, who replaced a workmanlike
Paulino Trindade on the left.
That was the boost that Grilled required, so it appeared, as the match sprang alive with a series of incisive assaults from all directions. Things came to a head in the 65th minute as the Kings backline had to deal with one inside pass too many, which had them fail to deal with
Mohd Marzuki Khairul's cut-in amidst the noise.
Mason Glendinning was waiting for just that, and Marzuki put the Birds in front for the first time, after fending off Arlindo Unas' last-ditch shoulder charge from outside.
The Kings were on a clock now, which did them no favours as they were left to try and find an equaliser from very little. They were not quite able to put their man advantage into use either with Grilled hanging onto the ball comfortably enough, and Italian winger Pier Francesco Olei was booked in the 69th minute for a mistimed tackle on
Wu Ping De. Magon would be accused of favouritism by the home fans as Olei stayed on, as players from both sides involved themselves in the decision.
It resumed with the visitors still with eleven men, but this was soon forgotten as Grilled Birds took matters into their own hands with wave after wave of attacks, which had
Lim An Keng and
Phillip Nagata provide Grilled with a three-goal cushion by the 78th minute, even with Al-Arab making a save he had no right to against
Chia Kwang Tse in between. Lim might even have collected a hat-trick in stoppage time, but the Iraqi goalkeeper warded off his thunderbolt from the left edge of the six-yard box.
